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Mahatma Gandhi's face etched on Mars
LONDON: An Italian space buff has claimed to have spotted the face
of Mahatma Gandhi etched into the the rocks of Mars while scanning
through latest pictures of the Red Planet.
Matteo Lanneo was surveying the amazing pictures sent from
Europe's Mars Orbiter back to Earth when he came across this
uncanny resemblance to the father of the Indian nation,
Daily Mail reported.
The head appears to have a moustache and shaven head and
prominent eyebrows, just like Mahatma Gandhi, it quoted Lanneo as saying.
It is not the first time that a face has been spotted on Mars.
In July 1976, the American Viking 1 Orbiter took a photograph that appeared
to show a hill in the shape of a human face on the dusty surface of Mars.
Within days of its discovery in 1976, space enthusiasts were speculating
that the structure was man-made and had been built by Martians in the
distant past.
However, an image taken with Nasa's high-definition HiRISE camera in 2010
showed the face was just a large, rocky hill.
Seeing faces on Mars is a case of pareidolia - where a random stimulus
is perceived as having
significance, be it a symbol seen in a cloud or a face on a piece of toast.
Scientists theorize the phenomenon occurs because humans are hardwired
to recognise familiar objects as a survival technique, the report said.
ESA's Mars Express has just celebrated its eighth years in space. The Orbiter
takes high-resolution images and maps the minerals on the surface. It also
explores the subsurface using radar.
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