Eerie Discovery on Mars Looks Exactly Like a Human Face
Michelle StarrFri, 18 October 2024 at 9:08 AM SGT2-min read
Eerie Discovery on Mars Looks Exactly Like a Human Face
Mars pareidolia strikes again. An image captured by the Perseverance rover in the course of its duties is one of the grisliest yet: it looks, for all the world, like a desiccated, decaying human head, severed from any body, just withering away under the harsh light of the Sun.
It is not a human head, you may be relieved (or dismayed) to know. It is – like most things on Mars that isn't a bit of ice, cloud, dust, or a nifty hole – a rock, one that so happens to look like another thing.
This particular rock was photographed on 27 September 2024, and monstrous head aside, it looks like a chunk of sedimentary sandstone not unlike other rocks around it. Which isn't unusual for Mars, especially where water is once thought to have flowed.
The image captured by Perseverance using its Mastcam-Z on 27 September 2024. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU)
The thing that makes it unusual is its shape: the way it is weathered, and its orientation to the camera, make it look like a head, laying on its side, showing similarities to a brow ridge, nose, mouth, and chin.
