Enlarged Bear Face Crater's Nose Reveals Pareidolic Martian Ghoul

Summary: An enlarged detail of the bear face crater's nose reveals a pareidolic Martian ghoul crouching in the left nostril.

An enlarged detail of the nose formation in Martian southern hemisphere's bear face-reminiscent crater reveals a pareidolia within a pareidolia as a Martian ghoul peers from the left nostril; NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona image acquired Monday, Dec. 12, 2022, by NASA's HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) spacecraft; ID ESP_076769_1380: courtesy NASA/JPL/University of Arizona, Public Domain, via UA (University of Arizona) HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment)

A pareidolic Martian ghoul peers from the left nostril in an enlarged detail of the nose formation in the illusory bear face of a crater in the Red Planet's southern hemisphere.

The psychological perception of pareidolia (Ancient Greek: παρα, para, “concurrent, alongside” + εἴδωλον, eídōlon, “image”) associates familiar patterning of animals, faces or objects with unrelated objects or shapes. The perception of faces in formations on the surfaces of astronomical objects exemplifies the facial aspect of pareidolia. For example, six lunar maria (Latin: mare, "sea"; maria, "seas") compose the Man in the Moon, the illusory human face familiar to Earth's Northern Hemisphere-based moongazers.

An image acquired Monday, Dec. 12, 2022, by NASA's (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) camera captures a pareidolic bear face crater in the Martian southern hemisphere. The bear face emerges from the crater's formations.

"There’s a hill with a V-shaped collapse structure (the nose), two craters (the eyes), and a circular fracture pattern (the head). The circular fracture pattern might be due to the settling of a deposit over a buried impact crater. Maybe the nose is a volcanic or mud vent and the deposit could be lava or mud flows?" explains American planetary geologist Alfred S. McEwen in "A Bear on Mars?", published during the week of Jan. 23, 2023, as the HiPOD (HiRISE Picture of the Day) for Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2023.

Martian bear face crater's circular fracture patterned-perimenter, captured Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2022, by NASA's HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) spacecraft; ID ESP_076347_1380: courtesy NASA/JPL/University of Arizona, Public Domain, via UA (University of Arizona) HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment)

An enlarged detail of the crater's illusory nose intensifies the image's pareidolic effects. A ghoulish creature peers from the ursine (Latin ursīnus, adjectival form of ursus, “bear”) nose's left nostril. The pareidolia within a pareidolia appears as a blood-stained, ghastly pale ghoul with its left hand grasping the crumpled edge of a wide ledge. Despite its scientific context, HiRISE's image of the crater's illusory bear face and the closeup of the pareidolic nose easily encourage the viewer's imagination.

The HiRISE camera obtained its image of the Martian bear face landscape Monday, Dec. 12, 2022, at 14:29 local Mars time. The image (ESP_076769_1380) was centered at minus 41.629 decimal degrees south latitude, 206.988 decimal degrees east longitude. The HiRISE camera's spacecraft, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), logged an altitude of 250.9 kilometers (155.9 miles) above the Martian surface during the image's acquisition.

The emission angle registered as 15.7 degrees. The emission angle (EMA) is defined as "the angle between the spacecraft and a vector drawn perpendicular to the planet's surface (surface normal)," according to the online ISIS (Integrated System for Imagers and Spectrometers ISIS) Glossary established by the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) Astrogeology Research Program.

The phase angle during image obtention measured 63.2 degrees. The phase angle indicates "the angle between the sun and the spacecraft at a point on the surface," according to USGS's ISIS Glossary.

The image's solar details included a solar incidence angle of 51 degrees, with the Sun's above-horizon elevation at about 39 degrees. The incidence angle (INC) signifies "the angle between the sun and the surface normal" (USGS ISIS Glossary).

Solar longitude was recorded at 352.8 degrees, Northern Winter. Solar longitude, also designated as L_sub_S, identifies "the planetocentric longitude of the sun as seen from a point on a body. It is considered a seasonal angle" (USGS ISIS Glossary).

The craterous bear face image's stereo pair (ESP_076347_1380) was published as "Bright Patches in Terra Sirenum," the HiRISE site's Anaglyph for Jan. 20, 2023. An enlarged detail of the image focuses on the "circular fracture pattern" that parameterizes the crater and outlines the illusory bear's head. It was acquired Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2022, at 14:32 local Mars time. The image was centered at minus 41.622 decimal degrees south latitude, 206.988 decimal degrees east longitude. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter logged an altitude of 250.0 kilometers (155.4 miles).

The emission angle measured 5.9 degrees. The phase angle was recorded at 41.6 degrees.

The solar incidence angle reached 46 degrees, with the Sun's above the horizon at about 44 degrees. Solar longitude was placed at 335.5 degrees, Northern Winter.

The Martian crater that forms a bear face has not been named. The pareidolia-within-a-pareidolia crater occurs in Terra Sirenum, a heavily cratered region in the Red Planet's southern hemisphere.

image of pareidolic bear face crater in Martian southern hemisphere, captured Monday, Dec. 12, 2022, by NASA's HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) spacecraft; ID ESP_076769_1380: courtesy NASA/JPL/University of Arizona, Public Domain, via UA (University of Arizona) HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment)

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

An enlarged detail of the nose formation in Martian southern hemisphere's bear face-reminiscent crater reveals a pareidolia within a pareidolia as a Martian ghoul peers from the left nostril; NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona image acquired Monday, Dec. 12, 2022, by NASA's HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) spacecraft; ID ESP_076769_1380: courtesy NASA/JPL/University of Arizona, Public Domain, via UA (University of Arizona) HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) @ https://www.uahirise.org/ESP_076769_1380

Martian bear face crater's circular fracture patterned-perimenter, captured Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2022, by NASA's HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) spacecraft; ID ESP_076347_1380: courtesy NASA/JPL/University of Arizona, Public Domain, via UA (University of Arizona) HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) @ https://www.uahirise.org/ESP_076347_1380

image of pareidolic bear face crater in Martian southern hemisphere, captured Monday, Dec. 12, 2022, by NASA's HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) spacecraft; ID ESP_076769_1380: courtesy NASA/JPL/University of Arizona, Public Domain, via UA (University of Arizona) HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) @ https://www.uahirise.org/ESP_076769_1380

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