Perseverance Cactures striking image from Mars’ Jezero Crater

A photo taken in the Jezero crater by Perseverance has caused a stir: a rock, illuminated by the Sun, looks like a human face, but the explanation is psychological

Indeed, this is an intriguing picture taken recently by the Perseverance rover from Mars’ Jezero Crater. In the left part of this picture, a strange formation with a rock can be seen wherein some see just a stone, while other persons observe an outline resembling a human face-a sort of head lying on its side. Deep-set eyes, wide nose, and a mouth with a melancholic expression-even if one does not pay particular attention, these are some striking details.

This rock is a chunk of sedimentary sandstone that has been sculpted by weathering and erosion. While somewhat eerie in appearance, the “face” does indeed fit with the desolate landscape of the crater-diameter of about 28 miles, once perhaps covered with water.

Why do we see faces in rocks?

Such an ability is known as pareidolia. It is a sort of psychological mechanism whereby the human brain identifies images of objects one is quite familiar with, like faces or other objects, in ambiguous shapes or patterns. It’s something most people have experienced-who hasn’t seen a smile in their coffee or an animal in the clouds?

Pareidolia is particularly common when observing images from Mars. In fact, there had been past sightings of rocks that resembled a human face, a bear, mushrooms, a carved warrior, or even a Martian version of Bigfoot. Probably the most famous example so far involves the year 1976, when the Viking 1 probe captured the famous “Face on Mars” in a region called Cydonia. The image showed what indeed was a structure that, because of shadows and low resolution, seemed to take on the appearance of a human face. It was later confirmed to be just a rock formation that resembled a plateau from high-resolution photographs.

These illusions come about from the combination of shadow placement and our hardwired desire to make sense of what we are observing. When the brain interprets these pictures, it immediately makes leaps to conclusions based on familiarity-such as noticing a face. This bleeds over into naming conventions of heavenly bodies: the “Horsehead Nebula” got its name specifically because it resembles a horse’s head.

Source: NASA