NASA photographs gigantic ‘ear’ on Mars

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HiRISE is the most powerful camera ever sent to another planet. She is aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) orbiting our planetary neighbor. She photographed a bizarre crater on the surface of Mars from an altitude of 291 kilometers. It looks uncannily like a human ear and is about 1800 meters in diameter.

NASA refers to the phenomenon of pareidolia, where we recognize faces and patterns in shapes that were actually created by accident. This is because our brain tries to recognize familiar patterns in seemingly incomplete images. “In this case, we’re dealing with an oddly shaped impact crater that looks a lot like an ear. And once you’ve seen it, it’s almost impossible to get rid of,” said a NASA spokesperson about the discovery.

The crater is located in Chryse Planitia in the northern hemisphere of Mars. The photo was taken in September 2020 and recently released by NASA staff at the University of Arizona.

Extremely detailed recordings possible
The HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) camera is a valuable tool for US space agency researchers. With his telephoto lens, he delivers images with such a high resolution that the scientists can recognize objects of one meter in size on Mars. This allows the surface structure of the red planet to be studied much more extensively than ever before.

HiRISE works like the human eye in the visible wavelength range, but can also make observations in the near infrared range. The camera can also provide information about the minerals present.

The MRO probe has been in orbit around Mars since 2006
The approximately two-ton MRO (pictured above) has been orbiting the red planet in a highly elliptical orbit since 2006. Onboard the NASA probe are six scientific instruments, including the aforementioned HiRISE camera, which has already sent many spectacular images to Earth.

Source: Krone

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