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Astronomers discover a 'bear' on Mars

Pareidolia is the name given to the tendency of people to see familiar objects in random ways. This time, this state of perception appeared on a rock on Mars, far from Earth.

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Astronomers discover a bear on Mars

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured a similar image of a bear silhouette on a rock on the Red Planet.

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Astronomers discover a bear on Mars

Pareidolia is the name given to the tendency of people to see familiar objects in random ways. This time, this state of perception appeared on a rock on Mars, far from Earth.

Scanning the Martian surface on December 12, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter satellite discovered a rock formation on the planet's surface that exactly matches the facial features of a bear.

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Astronomers discover a bear on Mars

The silhouette of the bear's face is a scaled version of the image. The original image is roughly 2,000 meters wide.

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Astronomers discover a bear on Mars

It is not the first time that an interesting formation has been detected on the Red Planet.

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Astronomers discover a bear on Mars

Similar structures such as smiling human faces, elephants and birds have been detected in images from Mars before.

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Astronomers discover a bear on Mars
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Astronomers discover a bear on Mars
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Astronomers discover a bear on Mars
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Astronomers discover a bear on Mars