While some may call a recent photo from Mars evidence of intelligent life once existing on Mars, others might classified it another example of our eyes playing tricks.
According to ABC News, NASA shared an image captured by the Curiosity rover depicting a rock formation on the Red Planet. Given Curiosity's location in the Gale Crater, the formation can either be part of Mount Sharp or near it.
But amidst the formation appears to be a statue or a chiseled piece of rock akin to Buddha. Scott C. Waring, of UFOsightingsdaily.com, called the structure a "stunning Martian God" in a recent blog post.
"I think we have seen this statue before, but never this close up. This is a better view of it and shows a face and head turned to its right, with breasts and a plump stomach, shoulders," he wrote. "Very remarkable detail in this photo. This photo alone should be enough to convince the United Nations that intelligent life once existed on Mars, but NASA doesn't want anyone to know the truth, because they will be asked to share the info and technology that they have found."
However, Discovery News' Ian O'Neill believes this is just another case of pareidolia, which occurs when the mind looks for familiar objects in unfamiliar places. Recent examples include the floating spoon, ghostly woman, and crab monster, but NASA identified the phenomenon as early as 2001 with the Face on Mars.
"The same phenomenon that makes some people see the face of Jesus in burnt toast and bunnies in clouds," O'Neill wrote. "In the case of Mars, pareidolia makes us see Bigfoot, parrots, flowers and faces in the otherwise barren orange landscape."
