The viral photo has puzzled Internet users. The obvious image of the Earth from space turns out to be not what it seems.
At first glance, it may seem that the photo shows the curvature of the Earth with the ocean, clouds, atmospheric layers and twinkling stars far out in space. However, this is a great example of an optical illusion that deceives the human brain – the photo is not actually taken from space at all.
What is actually in the picture?
Some Internet users even suggested that the photo with an optical illusion looks like the first titles of the Universal Pictures screensaver.
Earth from space or Katip skyline? pic.twitter.com/gEEhwSOVvd
— Jamo (@jamouflage) February 18, 2016
But in fact, this skillfully turned photo is an image of the city skyline with weak sunlight softly illuminating the sky. A popular Italian science correspondent named Massimo shared the photo on April 4, and it received an amazing five million views on Twitter.
Optical illusions arise when we try to make an early assumption about the world around us based on our life experience. Our brain will quickly come to the first conclusion before we realize what we are really looking at. Our brains and eyes evolved to be hypersensitive, which allowed our ancestors to interpret predators and notice threats before it was too late.
According to research by the University of Queensland, scientists still do not understand how optical illusions work, despite numerous studies.
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