World of the Bizarre

'Giant crab' photographed by Mars rover

By T.K. Randall
August 5, 2015

Image: OSIRIS Mars True Color
Credit: ESA and MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/RSSD/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA / CC BY-SA 3.0 (adapted) We've seen a lot of strange and unusual items on the surface of Mars over the years including everything from a set of traffic lights to a perfect reproduction of President Barack Obama's head.

The explanation behind these peculiar sightings is a phenomenon known as pareidolia - the tendency for the human brain to see meaningful shapes in otherwise abstract patterns.

The most recent example is a photograph taken by the Curiosity rover of a rocky outcrop on the surface of Mars which appears to show a peculiar multi-legged creature hiding in a crevice.As far as anomalies go this one is at least quite convincing and actually does look like a big crab.

Seth Shostak, the man in charge of SETI ( the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence ), is quite frequently bombarded with images like this one from eagle-eyed anomaly hunters.

"It's usually some sort of animal, but occasionally even weirder objects such as automobile parts," he said in an e-mail. "Maybe they think there are cars on Mars."

"Recognizing a crab in a landscape filled with wind-weathered rocks is no more surprising - nor more significant - than seeing a winking face in a semi-colon followed by a parenthesis. ;)"

Source: Huffington Post

Tags: Mars, Pareidolia