No Humanoid on Mars, Just Rocks

By Nancy Atkinson - January 25, 2008 at 11:06 AM UTC | Planetary Science
a1366_9_west_valley_half_lg.jpg

Okay, once and for all, let's make this clear. In the words of our esteemed Bad Astronomer, Phil Plait, "repeat after me:" A humanoid was

not

photographed on the surface of Mars. And NASA is

not

covering up this photo in the name of national security. Furthermore, human missions to Mars have

not

been cancelled because of this photo. These outrageous notions keep popping up in the media. The photograph, which was taken by Spirit, one of the Mars Exploration Rovers, is just another example of pareidolia, our ability to see patterns in random shapes.

As happens frequently, people tend to see faces or human forms in things like

clouds

, wood grain, and

pancakes

. This is only an optical illusion. If you need proof of this, for those of you in the US, look at one of the state-themed quarters from New Hampshire. There you can see the Man in the Mountain, a case of pareidolia that became an historic site (which has since crumbled.)

The photo shown here is the very large panoramic image from which a teeny, tiny rock formation was found that looks kind of human-like. Someone had to be looking really close to see it, as the rock formation is only about 6 centimeters high, and in the image you can also see a hill that's over 8 kilometers (5 miles) away.

If you have any doubts in your mind that this is nothing more than just a very small, unusual rock formation, please, please, please see Emily Lakdawalla's thorough explanation of the image at the

Planetary Society's website

, which includes 3-D pictures that really make it clear this is not a humanoid. It's a rock with a funny shape. And Phil the Bad Astronomer has more info on it as well

here

and

here.

And, okay, here's the really zoomed in image crop that has caused such a hubbub. Just remember how small this rock really is.

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com