Tuesday, August 11, 2015

The Woman of Mars



A Martian photograph has yet again caused an outcry by citizen observers who have spotted what appears to be a woman in a long flowing gown standing on a cliff face.


It's is certainly not the first time citizen watchers of Mars have claimed to have spot an oddity in one of Curiosity photos. There was a metallic Martian flower growing from a rock in 2013. It turned out to be a piece of rock polished from the wind erosion.


Remember the Martian donut? (By the way, why didn’t someone like Dunkin’ Donuts capitalize on self that and offer a Martian Donut?) The Martian Donut incident got a tad out of hand when one a self-proclaimed scientist, unsuccessfully, to sue NASA for not having taken more pictures of the object. FYI – the object turned out to be a hunk of rock kicked up by Curiosity’s wheels.


And of course there is the famous face of Mars. Seen in an image taken by the Viking I orbiter in 1976 – the image is below.


Yes it looks incredibly like a face. Problem is with the wiring of Mankind. We are wired to seek out any resemblance to a face: it is a survival trait. If you spot the face hidden in the bushes, you see the enemy before they attack! (FACT: in science terms it is called pareidolia.)


But back to the Woman in Mars; it actually looks like a statue. The arms, the head of hair, even breasts indicated by the shadow on its chest. 


So what now? Does NASA spend a small fortune investigating this appearance? All the others turned out to be a colossal waste of resources.  Still, it is convincing. Maybe just this once and then that’s it, I swear!

 

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