While there are no bears on Mars, there is a surface terrain that resembles a bear’s face.
Bear face-like terrain on Mars.
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) from NASA has captured a strange terrain on the surface of the “Red Planet.” Many observers have noted that the image triggers the pareidolia instinct, the tendency to see familiar objects in random images. In this case, the image strongly resembles a bear’s face.
The picture was taken by the high-resolution HiRise camera, operated by researchers at the University of Arizona, mounted on the MRO. “Bear Face” is one of the most distinctive images returned by HiRise.
This face is significantly larger than any bear, with the terrain estimated to span about 2,000 meters.
Explaining the factors that contribute to this unusual terrain, researchers from the HiRise operation team stated: “There is a V-shaped hill that has collapsed forming the bear’s nose, two craters positioned as the eyes, and a circular fault line that creates the bear’s head.”
The large fault line may have formed due to sediment deposition at the mouth of a crater caused by an asteroid impact on Mars in the past, they added. Additionally, the bear’s nose might be formed from lava or mud deposits.
This is not the first time the HiRise camera has discovered strange faces on Mars. Previous findings have included smiley faces, characters from The Muppet Show, and even Ed Asner.
