The loudest space sensation this summer was the discovery of an unusual artifact on Ceres. The Dawn spacecraft photographed an unusual pyramid on the surface of a dwarf planet from a distance of 4,500 kilometers. Its height reaches 5 kilometers - it is 35 times higher than the Great Pyramid of Giza, also known as the Pyramid of Cheops. Of course, a version immediately appeared: the creation of alien architects was discovered.
Small goddess
On January 1, 1801, the Italian astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi discovered a new space object between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. The largest in the asteroid belt, it still did not reach a full-fledged planet - only 950 kilometers in diameter. So he did not get the name from the most important goddess, although quite significant. Ceres, the second daughter of Saturn and Rhea, was "in charge" of fertility among the ancient Romans. Ceres received the status of a dwarf planet only in 2006, before that it was only one of the asteroids. By the way, at the same time as her "promotion in rank" she was "demoted" to the dwarf planet Pluto, for 76 years considered the ninth planet of the solar system.
Aliens visiting the pharaohs
Until this summer, no one expected any special surprises from Ceres. Aliens, if they exist, would probably choose a more suitable object for life than a relatively small planet, about a third of ice. But in 2007, a Delta-2 rocket was launched from Cape Canaveral, on which the Dawn probe went to the asteroid belt. NASA did not spare half a billion dollars on the project. Four years later, the probe reached the asteroid West and photographed its surface for the first time. However, then there were no sensations - but future space tourists now have a detailed map of Vesta.
But the very first pictures of Ceres from close range showed NASA and the world an amazing pyramid. Some scientists cautiously suggest that it is artificial. The most daring minds are already drawing parallels between the mysterious architects of distant worlds and the ancient Egyptian builders. Why shouldn't aliens visit the pharaohs?
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The Martian Chronicles
The mysterious pyramid on Ceres is the last (to date), but far from the first mysterious space object, which is attributed to artificial origin. Most of the "man-made" artifacts were found, of course, on Mars. Perhaps the most famous of them is the human face, which struck the imagination of researchers 40 years ago. The bright face (indeed lighter than the surrounding Martian soil) appeared in the images taken in 1976 by the Viking spacecraft. For its undeniable resemblance to the ancient Egyptian statue, it was also called the "Martian Sphinx". Around the face, by the way, giant pyramids were also discovered … Alas, subsequent photographs taken from other points using more modern technology at the end of the 20th century proved that the "face" was just a play of light and shadow. And the pyramids turned out to be ordinary rocks.
Optical illusion?
The legend of the Martian canals lasted much longer. Back in 1877, the Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli made out strange lines on the Red Planet. He also first used the term "channels" and very carefully suggested their artificial origin. Soon the American Percival Lovell, observing Mars from his own observatory, mapped more than 600 channels. To the question: "Is there life on Mars?" - Lovell answered unequivocally: "Yes!" And the canals were allegedly built by the arid-stricken Martians to irrigate farmland with water from the melting polar ice caps. It was after this remarkable enthusiast's book Mars as the Home of Life, which was published in 1908, that many people came to believe in the existence of Martians. But everything was spoiled by the artificial satellite of the Red Planet Mariner-9, which filmed in 1972 almost the entire surface of Mars. It turned outthat a small part of the channels are natural folds of the relief. For the rest, unfortunately, we are dealing with a banal optical illusion.
The disease does not require treatment
However, not so commonplace. This illusion has a name. Psychiatrists believe that the term "pareidolia" can be used here - this is when vague and incomprehensible visual images are perceived as something quite definite, well known to the observer. Shadows appear as channels, and hillocks and depressions add up to facial features. But this does not necessarily mean that we are dealing with a disease that requires serious treatment. Everyone has probably at least once in his life happened to see in the silhouette of a mountain - the face of, say, a poet, in a cloud - a divine revelation, and in circles on the water - an unknown animal.
What did the astronauts see?
Even the conquerors of the cosmos, who had been repeatedly tested for mental stability, sometimes admitted that they saw something incomprehensible in its impenetrable blackness. Of course, these revelations of astronauts (astronauts, taikonauts) were not widely publicized. So, Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon, is credited with the phrase: "There are alien spaceships!" Alas, enthusiasts do not provide a recording of the astronaut's negotiations with the flight control center … In our country, many believe that Yuri Gagarin himself saw the unknown interplanetary ships - therefore, they say, his life ended in the prime of life. But even if the first of the cosmonauts spoke of something similar, this can be explained by pareidolia. The nervous tension of space pioneers completely excuses optical illusions.
UFO contacts
The situation is somewhat more complicated with the citizens of different countries who regularly observe unidentified flying objects (UFOs) in everyday life. Without detaching from the earth's surface. These objects are different. Ufologists (UFO researchers) distinguish six types of contacts with them. The first, second and third kind - saw, felt, talked, in other words. There is also a contact of the fourth kind, "abduction", but this is already a great rarity. Are observers wrong in these cases? And if they are wrong, why are there so many of them? Tens of thousands of people cannot be fooled, can they?
An entire book can be devoted to this topic, and not even one. In the meantime, let us note that the number and variety of types of unidentified objects is such that it remains only to be amazed at the variety of technical ideas of our brothers in mind. But one should not conclude from this that everything unusual only seems to us. Moreover, some observers in the UK observed UFOs in the form of pyramids …
Everything is ghostly
And yet, will we ever learn about the true nature of the Ceres pyramid? Most likely, we will find out, and the wait is not long. Already this fall, the Dawn apparatus will descend to 1400 kilometers above the surface of the dwarf planet. And in winter, closer to the New Year - and even up to three hundred. This is where we will understand whether we were dealing with the construction of hardworking aliens or with another optical illusion. In the meantime, you can think about another riddle. Another space probe, Rosetta, launched shortly before the now famous Dawn apparatus, found alien microbes on the comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Alive? We will see…
Dmitry POLEVTSEV