A strange geological formation depicting the head of a bear was photographed on the surface of Mars by a NASA satellite and now the shot posted on social media is fueling speculation. The intriguing image was immortalized by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter satellite of the American space agency, in orbit around the red planet, in particular the high-resolution camera HiRISE, the most powerful ever sent by man into the solar system. The photo was taken last month but only posted today on the HiRISE project Twitter account, accompanied by the question ‘A bear on Mars?’
According to the scientists at the University of Arizona, who are leading the project, the animal’s snout is actually made up of “two craters,” which look like eyes, and a gutted “hill” that resembles a snout. These elements are surrounded by a «circular fracture», which delimits the contours of the head and could be formed by a deposit of lava or mud. All this gives the impression of seeing the smiling and unusual face of a teddy bear from above in this geological formation that extends for two kilometers.
The HiRISE camera is one of six instruments on board the NASA satellite, which has been orbiting Mars since 2006. Ultra-precise, it allows you to take very detailed shots to map the surface of the red planet for future missions carried out by robots or humans. For ten years, the scientists who manage it have been able to photograph avalanches on Mars, for example, and have discovered dark traces that could be salt water flowing along the gullies. They also spotted dust eddies on the planet’s surface and another geological formation that looks suspiciously like the symbol of Starfleet force tasked with exploring space in the Star Trek television series. However, so far the very high resolution images have not identified the famous green men who populate Mars in the collective imagination.