The rovers still haven’t found evidence of microbes on Mars, let alone full-sized animals. But the rovers found a lot of stones that remind us of creatures from Earth. Curiosity‘s latest find pleased Twitter followers, where NASA image processor Andrea Luck posted on Twitter a fresh photo of a funny stone that looks like a duck.
The rover took this picture of the stone at the end of October 2022 using a built-in camera. Curiosity photographed the stone at a perfect angle, so it reminds us of a duck that seems to swim in the water and turns its head to look at us from behind. Unfortunately, the Martian duck does not pass the classic “if it walks like a duck, it talks like a duck” test, because it does not walk, does not talk and does not swim. It just sits there like a stone, playing with our imagination – this is another interesting example of pareidolia.
Curiosity was busy exploring the incredibly picturesque area of Gale Crater, full of wild and magnificent formations. Scientists are interested in the salty minerals found there and what they tell about the history of water on the planet. The rover is looking for signs of organic molecules to find out if Mars could ever be habitable.
Currently, the rover has been in Gale Crater since 2012. The rover explores the lower part of Mount Sharp, a massive central peak inside the crater. Here you can see several stunning rock formations – from tiny “spikes” to a natural niche, which many consider similar to a doorway.
Earlier we reported about how a stone got stuck in the wheel of the Curiosity rover.
Follow us on Twitter to get the most interesting space news in time
https://twitter.com/ust_magazine
