Claim:
An image authentically shows a mysterious object on the surface of Mars.
Judgement:
Context:
Although the photo is authentic, it shows a wind-carved rock.
A smooth, tadpole-like object photographed on the surface of Mars has netizens curious about what it could be. To take these photos (archived here) shared on Facebook on February 20, 2023 for example, or this video shared on Reddit in 2022 (archived here):
a reverse image search using Google Lens (archived here) led Snopes to a February 25, 2022 article in the British tabloid The sun (archived here), which described the “strange object” as captured by NASA’s Curiosity rover:
Some have jokingly suggested that it could be a bowling pin from Mars or even an alien’s shoehorn.
Another said it looks like a discarded Tesla side mirror.
NASA hasn’t confirmed what it really is yet, but other nerds think the answer might be less exciting.
NASA confirmed to Snopes what the item was in an email on February 26, 2024, and because the image is a real photo, we rated this claim as ‘True’.
Andreas Gooda spokesperson for the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology, told Snopes that while the image is real, its explanations are much more mundane than those posited by some online.
“It’s a wind-carved rock. We see a lot of strange shapes and textures in Martian rocks, mostly because they’ve been sandblasted over eons into very smooth, wavy (if I can use the term) shapes,” he explained.
The image was captured (archived here) on February 13, 2022 – also known as Mars Sol (solar day) 3385 – by the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on the Curiosity rover. Good referred to our newsroom this pagewhich, according to him, “explains the phenomenon we see most associated with shapes like these: pareidolia, the tendency to see familiar shapes when they are not there.”
Pareidolia is like looking at the sky and deciphering animal shapes from clouds. This happens because, as NASA wrote, “our human brains often try to see familiar shapes, something we can identify with. It happens with clouds, rocks, celestial bodies.”
On July 25, 1976, NASA photographed the known “face on Mars” photo:
At first glance, the top mound resembles a human face, with two eyes, a nose and a mouth. The speckled appearance of the photo, captured by NASA’s Viking 1 orbiter spacecraft along the northern latitudes of Mars, was the result of missing data called “bit errors,” which NASA describes as “caused by problems in transferring the photographic data from Mars to Earth.” The space agency added:
Bit errors include part of one of the ‘eyes’ and ‘nostrils’ on the eroded rock that resembles a human face near the center of the image. Shadows in the rock formation give the illusion of a nose and mouth. Planetary geologists attribute the origin of the formation to purely natural processes. The object is 1.5 kilometers (one mile) in diameter and the angle of the sun is about 20 degrees. The photo was taken from a distance of 1,873 kilometers (1,162 miles).
Higher resolution images collected more than twenty years later, in 1998, it was found that the ‘face’ ‘looked more like a natural feature’.
Curiosity is a car-sized rover that landed on Mars in 2012 “to look for evidence that the planet could once have supported life on Earth,” according to The planetary societya non-profit space exploration organization. As of this publication, the rover does captured more than 1.1 million raw images of the red planet – some of which were the focus of Snopes’ fact checks, including this picture which many claimed showed a ‘portal’ and ‘wall’ on Mars.
Sources:
“Curiosity, Exploring the Surface of Mars.” The planetary society, https://www.planetary.org/space-missions/curiosity. Accessed February 26, 2024.
Dapcevich, Madison. “Does this NASA photo show a ‘portal’ and ‘wall’ on Mars?” SnackingMay 11, 2022, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/nasa-mars-portal-door/.
Evon, Dan. “Snopes Tips: A Guide to Performing Reverse Image Searches.” SnackingMarch 22, 2022, https://www.snopes.com//articles/400681/how-to-perform-reverse-image-searches/.
Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/groups/355731256819830/permalink/411659804560308/?paipv=0&eav=Afb1OWxWuaNIpNJAyQhsT6ICVAT9Q0pdHva_DBgbJKNTE4_yJAe7lQwbfYEXVU6MFTQ&_rdr. Accessed February 26, 2024.
Google Lens. https://lens.google.com/search?ep=cnts&re=df&s=4&p=AbrfA8pMSfb_EkLJOdeYSdzLZjNTXQMQZYhJdfZHDYc_xlJs7JXvkydfYf-99WrO5r-uNUxjSJMd_LyqTfiCQCOeYfYfxIttjoXiinc6pKrI4A xwxh8QmqNpmgCHJaEy2YjSCAYmBmvGImXA7U1lluQ_R1MQ316TMdHm6jmMnEmc2OJ6dPjHOZT9DFAIICHXsPsJnuH14YargwV8L8HhF97foYa8CMbJHmDWXdaS6JMCpnR_ZK1KLsAKm4LakcX -cF QEvUVm_pqvgYkV4ftf7ySeVcDDZ8JusQ%3D%3D&st=1708984585614#lns=W251bGwsbnVsbCxudWxsLG51bGwsbnVsbCxudWxsLG51bGwsIkVrY0tKRGM1WVRNM05qRm1MV0 ZtTj JRdE5EQXlNUzFoWprMkxUWTVOamMwTURjM1lqWmxNaElmUVRKRFExRmxXSEZyVEhkU1VVVjFlRFl4WHpJd1dFTTRhRXRhTWpOb1p3PT0iLG51bGwsbnVsbCxudWxsLDEsbnVsbCxbbnVs bCxudW xsLFs0MjY4LDg5NjAsNzk1OTIsOTI5ODhdXV0=. Accessed February 26, 2024.
mars.nasa.gov. “Geological ‘Face on Mars’ Formation.” NASA Mars exploration, https://mars.nasa.gov/resources/6279/geologic-face-on-mars-formation. Accessed February 26, 2024.
—. “Home | Curiosity – NASA’s Mars Exploration Program.” NASA Mars exploration, https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/home. Accessed February 26, 2024.
—. “Mars Orbiter Camera Views the ‘Face on Mars’ – Comparison to Viking.” NASA Mars exploration, https://mars.nasa.gov/resources/7495/mars-orbiter-camera-views-the-face-on-mars-comparison-with-viking. Accessed February 26, 2024.
—. “Sol 3385: Mastcam (Mastcam).” NASA Mars exploration, https://mars.nasa.gov/raw_images/1024024. Accessed February 26, 2024.
—. “Space Oddities: NASA Sorts Facts from Fantasy | Multimedia Section.” NASA Mars exploration, https://mars.nasa.gov/multimedia/space-oddities. Accessed February 26, 2024.
“Space sleuths can’t figure out what weird ‘bowling pin’ object is on Mars.” The sunFebruary 25, 2022, https://www.thesun.co.uk/tech/17770341/mars-weird-object-spotted-nasa-space/.