Scientists watching the surface of Mars have spotted what looks like a bear watching them.
A camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter took a picture of the formation on December 12. It was shared Wednesday by the University of Arizona, which operates the camera.
A hill with a V-shaped collapse structure forms the bear’s nose and a circular fracture pattern creates the head, the university’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory explained in the blog post for its HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment).
“The circular fracture pattern could be due to the deposition of a deposit on a buried impact crater. Perhaps the nose is a volcanic or mud vent and the deposit could be lava or mudflows ?” It said.
This is due to a tendency of the human brain to try to see recognizable shapes in objects or data that are otherwise unfamiliar to us, which is called pareidolia.