Space & Astronomy

Mysterious object spotted on surface of Mars

By T.K. Randall
June 29, 2017

Image: Curiosity Rover
Credit: (PD) NASA/JPL-Caltech via Wikimedia Commons The image, which was uploaded by the 13-year-old rover on March 17th, has generated something of a buzz online with Internet users discussing what the anomalous object could possibly be.

Unlike previous images of anomalous objects on Mars, this one is very clear and evidently not simply a case of pareidolia - the brain's natural tendency to see meaningful shapes in abstract patterns.Situated on the Meridiani Planum region of Mars, the most likely explanation is that it is a piece of debris from the rover's own landing systems. According to users on Reddit, Opportunity was in fact known to have been taking photographs of its own debris at around that time.

It certainly makes more sense than some of the other weird objects eagle-eyed conspiracy theorists claim to have spotted on the surface of Mars over the last few years.

Source: News.com.au

Tags: Curiosity, Mars