Photo: NASA/JPL/UArizona
We’ve marveled at the images various types of hardware are sending back from Mars for most of the year now, and thanks to these pics we became convinced (if there was more need of convincing) that our neighboring planet is a very weird place. In more ways than one.
A place of mystery and dreams, Mars has been the subject of intensive study for decades now. We’ve found traces of water, possible hints at past life, and a great potential for the future. But above all, we keep seeing strange images on the surface of the planet, as our imagination tries to make sense of something it’s not used to seeing.
In the case of the image we have here, taken by the HiRISE camera from an altitude of 249 km (155 miles) back in 2017, the official vista is that of an undisclosed region of the planet that “looks like a crater from a meteor impact rather than an ancient caldera of a volcano.”
It’s a “mystery depression” comprising what appears to be a bed connected to a crater, a bed that might have once supported either water or lava.
While for the people over at NASA and the University of Arizona, who are constantly looking over HiRISE photos, the image is a good opportunity to “give insight into some of the interesting geology of this area,” for us it’s yet another reason to see strange shapes.
If you look close enough in the main pic of this piece (click photo to enlarge), you’ll see in the upper right corner something that looks like a big nose with the right half of the face attached to it. In the opposite corner, we get another half-face, this one seemingly showing an eye and a much bulkier nose further down.
Because that’s how strange Mars is when pareidolia springs into action.
In the case of the image we have here, taken by the HiRISE camera from an altitude of 249 km (155 miles) back in 2017, the official vista is that of an undisclosed region of the planet that “looks like a crater from a meteor impact rather than an ancient caldera of a volcano.”
It’s a “mystery depression” comprising what appears to be a bed connected to a crater, a bed that might have once supported either water or lava.
While for the people over at NASA and the University of Arizona, who are constantly looking over HiRISE photos, the image is a good opportunity to “give insight into some of the interesting geology of this area,” for us it’s yet another reason to see strange shapes.
If you look close enough in the main pic of this piece (click photo to enlarge), you’ll see in the upper right corner something that looks like a big nose with the right half of the face attached to it. In the opposite corner, we get another half-face, this one seemingly showing an eye and a much bulkier nose further down.
Because that’s how strange Mars is when pareidolia springs into action.
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