From time to time there is information that the ruins of some buildings, traces of people and animals, various artifacts have been found on Mars … As a rule, enthusiasts manage to "see" them in the images transmitted to the Earth by devices. Here is a list of the most sensational, but highly dubious Martian "finds" of recent times.
Martian "sphinx"
On July 25, 1976, the US space station Viking Orbiter 1 took a snapshot of an "image" that resembled a woman's face. The photograph was repeatedly processed using a computer technique. Researchers Marc Carlotto, Vincent di Pietro and Gregory Molenaar concluded that the likelihood of the natural origin of the "pattern" is negligible.
However, on April 5, 1998, the Mission Control Center received photographs of the part of the Martian surface where the "face" was allegedly located, this time taken from the Mars Global Surveyor interplanetary space station from an altitude of 440 kilometers. And what? The "face" disappeared, instead of it the camera recorded only the rocky landscape … Thus, there was no evidence of the existence of the "Martian Sphinx" (this name was given to the giant "sculpture"), except for the previous pictures taken from a great (1870 kilometers) height … However, supporters the hypothesis of "faces on Mars" believe that something NASA's management changed the pictures in order, as always, to avoid publicity, or the statue of the "sphinx" was destroyed by someone or something, or even hidden from prying eyes by the Martians themselves …
Giant emoticon
He was "discovered" in the same 1976 by the same "Viking". In 1999, clearer footage was obtained. It turned out to be just a crater with a radius of 230 kilometers. Later, the find was used in the creation of the famous comic strip "Guardians".
Promotional video:
Snowman
In 2008, the Spirit rover took a picture in which there is a spot that looks like the silhouette of a creature wandering in the desert. He was immediately nicknamed the "Martian Yeti".
Alien temple
In the same year, another rover, Opportunity, captured an image of a layered rock that resembled a man-made structure. Ufologists suggested that this is nothing more than the entrance to the destroyed temple. Something like the outlines of a spaceship sunk in the sand was also visible nearby …
Martian trees
In 2011, the Reconnassance Orbiter space station photographed objects that, according to those who believe in life on the Red Planet, are similar to trees … True, skeptics said that if they were trees, they would grow parallel to the Martian surface. No, they say, these are just footprints in the sand left by the evaporation of frozen carbon dioxide.
Light flash
This image was taken by Curiosity in April 2014. However, NASA expert Doug Ellison did not confirm the version of ufologists that aliens arrange outbreaks on Mars … He believes that it was a "hit" on the planet of a cosmic ray, which is a stream of charged particles.
Martian beetle
At the end of May of the same year, supporters of the theory of "life on Mars" drew attention to a dark object hovering in the air above the surface of the planet. At first, he was mistaken for a UFO and began to develop a hypothesis about flights over Mars by alien aircraft … But later, "authoritative researchers", having carefully analyzed the images, said that a beetle got into the lens of the rover's camera …! According to the "experts", the Martian insect resembled an earthly cicada, had a dark body and transparent wings … NASA was immediately accused of "harboring" the existence of "Martian beetles", because then it would have to admit that there are certain forms of life on the planet, and "competitors" from other countries would have rushed there for sure!
Mysterious ball
In September, all the same 2014, on one of the photos of the Curiosity rover, an image of a spherical object of seemingly ideal shape was found. Ufologists rushed to declare it a "Martian artifact". However, NASA experts immediately pointed out that the diameter of the object is about one centimeter, which means that it is most likely a product of a natural geological process called nodule, when something like a snowball is formed around a solid rock "core", and not at all an artificial product hand made by the inhabitants of the Red Planet …
Ghost woman
On August 7 last year, another image taken by Curiosity was published on the official NASA website. Ufologists examined a silhouette on it that resembled a female figure standing on a stone. "The silhouette looks so believable that for some it may be the embodiment of the desire to find extraterrestrial life," said the portal www. mashable.com.
Penis image
Do not rush to imagine the Martians busily drawing phallic symbols on the sand. What looks like a genital organ is actually just a trace from Curiosity wandering across Mars …
Margarita Troitsyna
