pop quiz: What's this a pic of?

[n2doc]

(answer in a bit- no fair looking at the image link code!)
edit: see answer #11....

[baldguy]

1. Am amoeba?

[northoftheborder]

16. a dry area once filled with water

[yurbud]

2. a baby boy in utero sitting on the sonogram?

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. Bush's brain.......on drugs?

*snerk*

:P

[fascisthunter]

4. looks like the surface of a planet

[n2doc]

11. Ding Ding ding! We have a winner:

It's taken from Mars Orbit :

HiRISE is monitoring the residual carbon dioxide cap on (or near) the South Pole of Mars to see how it changes over time.

Some of this terrain contains many pits, earning it the nickname "Swiss cheese terrain." One of our monitoring spots is over what looks like a deranged happy face. If you look closely, you'll see many changes since the first HiRISE image, PSP_004000_0945, was acquired in 2007. The pits have grown larger! When this pit growth was first discovered, it was suggested to be an indication of climate change on Mars.

However, we now suspect that the carbon dioxide that sublimates (going directly from a solid to a gas) from the pit walls recondenses on the nearby surfaces, so there is no net change in the carbon dioxide. With HiRISE stereo data we can measure these changes to test the theories.

more
http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_020746_0945

[Jamastiene]

17. Gah! Don't reveal who is right so soon.

It's way more fun to let us brainstorm a while first...and on DU, that is WAY more entertaining. :evilgrin:

[uppityperson]

5. close up pict of something under the silt at low tide?

[SoCalDem]

6. something in a petri dish? n/t

[Kingofalldems]

7. The 18th hole at Pebble Beach?

[demmiblue]

8. An animal cell? n/t

[Ghost in the Machine]

9. Topographic image of a lake.. or volcano?

:shrug:

[DCKit]

10. What's left of one of those manmade Dubai islands after a rainstorm. nt

[madamesilverspurs]

12. baby geode?

[Auggie]

A coral sea island group as seen from outer space?

[Canuckistanian]

13. Oh, right, it's such a FAMOUS image

I can remember exactly where I was when I first saw it. NOT.

[dixiegrrrrl]

14. Post BP Gulf of Mexico satellite photo.hmmmmm?

[PBS Poll-435]

15. McCain?