Eerie 'human face' found buried in sand on Mars
Technology
The latest mysterious discovery on Red Planet
(Web Desk) - What looks like a grisly, sun-scorched human face has been found half-buried in the sand on Mars by Nasa's Perseverance rover.
An image taken by the rover in September appears to show a sandy face with a large brow bone, nostrils and a sloping mouth.
Although it may look like the remains of a decapitated head, it is actually a rock.
Experts believe the formation is just another hunk of sedimentary sandstone, a leftover from the planet's water-rich past.
Its unusual shape suggests it was affected by water erosion when rivers used to flow on the Martian surface roughly 3.8billion years ago.
The rock has triggered a psychological phenomenon called face pareidolia.
This is the tendency to see human facial features in inanimate, or lifeless objects.
In 1976 the same phenomena birthed the famous 'Face on Mars' image taken by the American Viking 1 Orbiter.
At the time, Nasa released a statement saying one of several Martian formations in the Cydonia region "resembles a human head".
It was merely an optical illusion caused by the way sunlight hit the formations, resulting in shadows that gave impressions of eyes and a mouth.
