March: A Mysterious “Face” Captured by Perseverance Intrigues Experts

[Un article déjà publié le 11 octobre 2024]

Little reminder on the Paréidolie

You have surely ever looked into your eyes in the clouds and to note that one of them had the shape of a horse or a boat or even a human. Or, you may have already surprised yourself to start when you saw this piece of rope at your feet because you imagined having to escape a snake.

This is what a pareidolia is. In detail, it is a psychological phenomenon by which the human being will recognize forms which are familiar to him in a vague visual stimulus. It can be visual or auditory.

This principle, which applies to Earth, can also be applied in the universe in general. It is for this reason that one believes that we recognize particular forms by looking at the stars or certain galaxies for example, with the naked eye or the telescope. Or in this specific case through a photograph captured by the rover Perseverance on Mars.

An “unhappy face” on Mars

Voted as a photo of the NASA 189 week, the image captured by Perseverance drew public attention for a very special reason.

Indeed, taking a quick glance at the photo, we only see only an extent of sand on which rocks have been placed for a very long time. But it is by taking an interest in details a little more than this “dissatisfied face” appears to us. For those who have not seen it, it is on the left side of the image.

© NASA/JPL-CALTECH/ASU

© NASA/JPL-CALTECH/ASU

Although it is only a simple rock and nothing more, you can easily distinguish your mouth, your nostrils and your eyes. A bit like it was a cut head. The finest observers will also have noticed the point formed above its “skull”. Be that as it may and with regard to the image, this equivocal rock did not seem inclined to accept the photographs.

Forms studied and reproduced in the laboratory

Remember in the spring of 2024 when we thought that clouds of spiders were present on the surface of Mars. Inevitably, these were not extraterrestrial arachnids, but a multitude of geological phenomena which find their cause in the Martian seasons and the sunshine of the surface of the planet.

Well on September 11, 2024, NASA announced in a press release to have reproduced these famous spiders, who had panicked the canvas, in the laboratory using Dustie or Dirty under-vacuum simulation testbed for icy around (Vacuum simulation test bench for frozen environments).

We doubt, however, that NASA does not try to reproduce this “dissatisfied face” found on Mars unless this rock which may be studied one day presents a real interest in learning more about the Martian past or to find the proofs of a possible establishment of life on the surface of the planet.

Source: NASA / IFLSCIENCE