It’s no little green man, but a small turquoise rock is still catching Mars rover’s ‘eye’ By . Jesse O’Neill. Published April 3, 2021, 12:41 a.m. ET.

Green, turquoise, brown: ... When a rock is weathered down over time, the minerals from the rock are dissolved and small pieces are released into the water causing different colors.

How turquoise became synonymous with New Mexico. Sacred to Indigenous people, beloved by collectors, one blue-green stone has huge cultural cachet in the “Land of Enchantment.” ...

The American Southwest, including Arizona and New Mexico, is chock-full of ancient turquoise mines. Mesoamerica, including southern Mexico and Central America, however, have few if any. So ...

The lack of a grading system for the popular stone has prompted a father-son team to spend the last five years working on one. Turquoise stones from the blue and green master sets at the Turquoise ...