Space & Astronomy

Weird donut-shaped rock on Mars may not actually be from Mars

By T.K. Randall
June 28, 2023 ·  6 comments

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL/CNES/IRAP From doors and giant crabs to the faces of President Obama and Beaker from The Muppets - there have certainly been a lot of strange sightings on the surface of Mars over the years.

With its barren landscape strewn with randomly shaped boulders, rocky outcrops and other geological features, it's perhaps not surprising that Mars is a prime location to see examples of pareidolia - the human brain's natural tendency to see meaningful shapes in otherwise abstract patterns.

This particular example, however, is perhaps exactly as it appears - a hollow donut-shaped rock that looks like it really shouldn't be there and that's because, scientists believe, it may not even be from Mars at all.Instead, this peculiar rock is thought to be part of a meteorite that landed some time ago.

As things stand, it is impossible to tell where this meteorite might have originated, but it certainly doesn't match the various other rocky outcroppings found in the vicinity.

The other, smaller pieces of grey rock sitting next to it are thought to be other fragments of the same meteorite.

Source: IFL Science | Comments (6)

Tags: Mars