World of the Bizarre

Anomaly hunters spot 'spoon' in Mars picture

By T.K. Randall
September 2, 2015 ·  44 comments

What could have caused this rock to end up suspended in the air ? Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech The Curiosity rover's travels on the Red Planet have yielded images of many peculiar things over the years with eagle-eyed anomaly hunters picking up everything from traffic lights and small mammals to humanoid figures and everything in between.

The real culprit, of course, is pareidolia - a psychological phenomenon that concerns our brain's natural ability to make out meaningful shapes in otherwise abstract patterns.The latest example of this however, a peculiar rock formation that looks like a long spoon floating in the air, is actually very interesting in its own right. It isn't exactly clear whether the strange tube of rock is really floating as it appears or if the whole thing is some form of optical illusion.

As far as Mars anomalies go though, at least, this one really is quite convincing.

Source: Discovery News | Comments (44)

Tags: Mars, Pareidolia