A rat on Mars? The Curiosity rover has taken a picture of a small feature on Mars that looks a lot like a rat, fueling more stories of strange features on the Red Planet.
The photo of an area called the Rocknest site was taken Sept. 28, 2012 by the mounted Mast Camera (MastCam) of the Curiosity rover. The region is about eight feet by 16 feet in area. Covered in small orange rocks, Rocknest was the first area to have its soil sampled by the rover. Samples of the Rocknest site by Curiosity revealed that the area is rich in basalts, similar to formations found in Hawaii.
The Martian "rodent" was first noticed by a blogger and publicized by the Web site UFO Sightings Daily. Since their initial announcement, viewers of the photo have argued over whether what is seen on the film is a rat, squirrel, lizard, or just a rock.
"Note its lighter color upper and lower eyelids, its nose and cheek areas, its ear, its front leg and stomach. Looks similar to a squirrel camouflaged in the stones and sand by its colors. Hey, who doesn't love squirrels, right?" ScottCWaring, who runs the website from Japan, said.
Other people take another view - that this creature, like the famous face on Mars, is an optical illusion, representing nothing more than rocks and lighting angles. Humans tend to see faces where they do not exist through a psychological phenomenon called pareidolia. This is the same trait of the human brain that causes us to see faces in clouds and water stains. The "Mars rat" is also largely the same color as the surrounding rock, further evidence that what is being seen is nothing more than an unusual rock formation.
Other features that have been "found" on Mars include elephants, Yetis, and parrots, along with secret bases. The San Francisco Chronicle wrote that in the original NASA photograph, no tail or legs could be seen, as they are in the most detailed image from UFO Sightings Daily.
The Curiosity rover has spent almost a year searching for signs of water, and perhaps life on the Martian surface. The data collected by the rover is assisting astronomers in determining how Mars may have lost ancient water, as well as piecing together the geological past of our own planet.
If there is a rat up on the Martian surface, them one has to wonder if there is a cat up there as well, unless Curiosity, well, you know...
