Post by Neko Bazu on Jan 25, 2008 17:42:51 GMT -1
Taken the quoted text from Japantoday.com since it's the best report, but the story can also be found on MSN News and Reuters
I doubt that's really an alien, but I'd like to see the rover go back over there to clear up exactly what it is! ('cause obviously, if it's completely gone, that'd be something to explore further!)
WASHINGTON — An image of a mysterious shape on the surface of Mars, taken by NASA spacecraft Spirit, has reignited the debate about life on the Red Planet. A magnified version of the picture, posted on the Internet, appears to some to show what resembles a human form among a crop of rocks. While some bloggers have dismissed the image as a trick of light, others say it is evidence of an alien presence.
Though no official confirmation has come from NASA on whether the figure is an alien or an optical illusion caused by landscape on Mars, it has set the Internet abuzz that there really is life on Mars.
The image is a recent NASA posting of the Spirit's landing in 2004. [MSN says the image was taken in early November]
When the robotic rover set down on Jan 24, 2004, its images disappointed space-watchers hoping for signs of extraterrestrial life.
Now they appear convinced that this image provides the evidence they have been trawling NASA's photo files for.
The blown-up image seems to resemble a figure striding among the Martian rocks.
The Internet has been abuzz with postings offering theories.
One said it was a garden gnome, another that it was the Virgin Mary. A third suggested Bigfoot, the hairy bipedal mountain beast that appears in various guises in a number of legends around the world.
But the consensus seemed to be that it bore a striking resemblance to the Little Mermaid statue in the Danish capital, Copenhagen.
Badastronomy.com tried to apply some perspective: "A man? It's a tiny rock only a few inches high. It's only a few feet from the rover!"
Though no official confirmation has come from NASA on whether the figure is an alien or an optical illusion caused by landscape on Mars, it has set the Internet abuzz that there really is life on Mars.
The image is a recent NASA posting of the Spirit's landing in 2004. [MSN says the image was taken in early November]
When the robotic rover set down on Jan 24, 2004, its images disappointed space-watchers hoping for signs of extraterrestrial life.
Now they appear convinced that this image provides the evidence they have been trawling NASA's photo files for.
The blown-up image seems to resemble a figure striding among the Martian rocks.
The Internet has been abuzz with postings offering theories.
One said it was a garden gnome, another that it was the Virgin Mary. A third suggested Bigfoot, the hairy bipedal mountain beast that appears in various guises in a number of legends around the world.
But the consensus seemed to be that it bore a striking resemblance to the Little Mermaid statue in the Danish capital, Copenhagen.
Badastronomy.com tried to apply some perspective: "A man? It's a tiny rock only a few inches high. It's only a few feet from the rover!"
I doubt that's really an alien, but I'd like to see the rover go back over there to clear up exactly what it is! ('cause obviously, if it's completely gone, that'd be something to explore further!)
there fixed the size thing!!! 
