The Red Planet is always surprising us.From a ground-breaking new study suggesting “relatively recent activity on the moon,” to the planet joining six others to light up Scottish skies in a “planet parade,” we never know what’s next.
All eyes are now on Mars again after a peculiar “square surface” was uncovered on the Martian planet. A newly surfaced NASA snap shows a rugged region nearly two miles wide. In the image, there’s a square feature.
The discovery has sparked conversation among the world’s most influential, and controversial, names, including SpaceX mogul Elon Musk and podcaster Joe Rogan.
Taking to X, formerly Twitter, Musk asserted: “We should send astronauts to Mars to investigate”. Rogan waded in, exclaiming: “This is f****** WILD.”
Predictably, internet theories of what the structure could be have poured in thick and fast.
Some quarters believe it’s the remnants of an ancient Martian civilisation, insisting “there are no straight lines in nature“.
The majority were dumfounded. One wrote: “This is incredible. None of the natural explanations seem to fit… I have no idea what this is,” while another noted: “Images on Mars have been misinterpreted before”.
However, experts say the image has been edited to accentuate the shape, and even in the raw photo you’d have to squint to see anything distinctly rectangular.
Another explanation is that it could be pareidolia. This is the tendency to see recognizable patterns or shapes in random or ambiguous visual stimuli. For example, you might see a face in a cloud, a burnt toast, or a pile of rocks.
In short, our minds might be playing tricks on us, and conjuring the “squares,” actually, from nothing.
In any case, scientists are keen to keep investigating.