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| Photo Courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS |
NASA's Curiosity rover has discovered a round object – which looks like a perfectly-shaped ball – on Mars.
Sadly, the object is not the result of an alien golf or tennis match. Rather, scientists say the ball is an example of a geological process called concretion, the precipitation of mineral cement within the spaces between particles.
Concretion occurs when minerals seep into the pores of a sedimentary rock. When the sedentary rock erodes, the concretion is left behind.
NASA posted a photograph of the rock earlier this month on the website of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Small concretions, called "blueberries," were previously found in 2004, and they have been recognized as an evidence of water on the planet.
Curiosity launched in 2011 has been exploring the surface of Mars for two years.
