It seems to see an open book with pages turned by the wind, in the bizarre rock immortalized a few days ago on the surface of Mars by NASA’s Curiosity rover. The image is published on the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (Jpl) website and is already conquering social media by leveraging pareidolia, or the mental process that leads us to recognize familiar faces and shapes in landscapes or inanimate objects.
A few months ago it had already happened with an extravagant Martian geological formation in the shape of a bear’s face, taken by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).
This time, however, it was the now historic Curiosity rover that made the discovery: last April 15, on its 3,800th Martian day, it photographed a small 2.5-centimetre rock, nicknamed ‘Terra Firme’, which in appearance it is quite similar to an open book. She imaged it using the Mars Hand Lens Imager (Mahli) at the end of her robotic arm.
“Rocks with unusual shapes are common on Mars and often – the Jpl experts explain – they were formed by the action of water which in the past filtered through the cracks in a rock, bringing harder minerals. After centuries of wind erosion , the softest rock is carved and the hardest materials are all that’s left.”
Source: Ansa
I am a journalist with over 6 years of experience working in the news industry. I currently work as an author for Global Happenings, and my coverage focuses on Technology news. I have written for various publications, including Reuters, The New York Times and The Guardian.
