The idea that there may be life on Mars has been around for centuries, but
the theory got a dubious boost from recently
released photos of the surface of
Mars (taken by the NASA
robot Spirit) apparently showing a human-like figure. Several Internet
sites have glommed onto the image and suggested the figure could be alive.But what is it? Just a rock, astronomers say.
It''s hard enough to accurately recognize figures and faces across the room.
Mars, depending on when you measure it, is about 35 million miles away. The best
telescopes aren''t of much help in determining surface features, and that''s why
NASA sent robots
with cameras to Mars.
The reason many people see a figure on the Martian
landscape is the same reason that people see faces in clouds,
Rorschach blots, and coffee stains. This phenomenon, called
pareidolia, is well
known in psychology, and it is the cause of many supposedly mysterious and
miraculous events (including the famous "Jesus in the Tortilla"). Examples are
all around us; in fact if you have a New Hampshire state quarter, you have
pareidolia in your pocket or purse (take a look).
Strong evidence for this psychological explanation lies in the fact that the
Spirit image does not look like Martian life (since we don''t know what life on
Mars looks like), but instead resembles life here on Earth,
specifically human life. The image is the result of human interpretation. If you
look around the full image of the area (not just the close-up), you will find
several rocks and features that resemble non-human Earth life, such as
armadillos and snakes. In the right bottom corner, emerging from the sand, there
is what looks like a lizard face wearing goggles and an airman''s helmet.
This is of course not the first time that NASA images have been claimed to
show evidence of Martian life. A man named Richard Hoagland claimed that 1976
photographs of the Cydonia region of Mars showed a human-like face and was clear evidence of
aliens.
According to astronomer Phil
Plait of the Bad Astronomy Web site, if the image really is of a man on
Mars, he''s awfully small: "Talk about a tempest in a teacup!" Plait said. "The
rock on Mars is actually just a few inches high and a few yards from the camera.
A few million years of Martian winds sculpted it into an odd shape, which
happens to look like, well, a Bigfoot! It''s just our natural tendency to see
familiar shapes in random objects."
Even though logic and science suggest that the image is of a rock and not an
animal, UFO buffs and conspiracy
theorists will continue to speculate.
In fact, it will actually be pretty easy to determine whether or not the
image is of alien life. In later photographs of the area, either the same shape
will be there or it won''t. If it is, it''s a rock (unless, of course, little
Martian men can hold the same pose for weeks or months at a time).
This is exactly how the "Face on Mars" was eventually
disproven. On April 5, 1998, the Mars Global
Surveyor took photographs of the same region in far higher resolution
than was possible in 1976. The new images clearly showed an area heavily eroded,
and that the "face" was simply the result of low image quality, pareidolia, and
tricks of light and shadow. Hoagland''s theory was discredited.
Just don''t tell that to the creepy, goggle-wearing Martian sand lizard.