Comments on: Have a nice (martian) day!

By: Callisto

Callisto — Wed, 19 Apr 2006 03:10:05 +0000

I see a bovine hoofprint with a smile.

By: RAD

RAD — Thu, 13 Apr 2006 18:20:20 +0000

Thats wierd because I was trying for the virgin mary in my toast and I got that same smiley face. deja vu!!

By: Melusine

Melusine — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 22:30:50 +0000

Thanks for the link, Phil. I added the psychedelic-colored crater to my Photo Center with the other silly photos of Mars pareidolia vs. reality. Since my Photo Center belongs to not just me, I like to poke at some of the members. They’re used to it.

@Blake: Crop circles are art, and belong in museums along with Robert Smithson rock-manipulations. (However, in 1982 at the Venice Biennale, Smithson did a horrible one; there was a bad Brancusi, too, which was a major disappointment to my mother and me.)

If one wants to understand rock formations, they ought to look at real mounds of rock on the way to Las Vegas. Gamble on reality, and you’ll always win.

I notice, too, that that the dude from the tarot-card/psychic-scata site never told me what the weather would be like last Saturday…hmm, perhaps he didn’t appreciate my sarcasm. Gee, darn, I’ll just have to go back to reading Spaceweather.com or paying attention to Europans…and astronomers.

PETA: People for the Ethical Treatment of Astronomers.
PETA: People Eating Tasty Astronomers (but not Phil, because his mom and wife look in here, sorry Phil, but you sound great on radio).

And that goes for the Amateur Astronomers who find asteroids, and create pretty pictures that force us to stick our noses in books.

So, what were you all talking about, anyway?

By: Thomas Siefert

Thomas Siefert — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 20:02:03 +0000

Crop circles? Here? No! What you saw was; swamp gas from a weather balloon was trapped in a thermal pocket and reflected the light from Venus.

By: Kim

Kim — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 19:59:53 +0000

Octavio, thanks for that link. I had completely forgotten about the Watchmen thing. Too cool.

By: grand_lunar

grand_lunar — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 19:10:02 +0000

Interesting.

I never would have noticed the face, had you not mentioned it. I thought it was just a pretty pic of the Martian surface.

Oh wait, it is!

By: Wayne Reed

Wayne Reed — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 19:01:02 +0000

Clear proof that Walmart has expanded beyond the confines of Terra

Wayne

By: DIguana

DIguana — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 18:56:04 +0000

Count me as another who saw the Falcon in there before anything else.

By: Phobos

Phobos — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 17:43:57 +0000

We’ve seen a few examples of the smiley face. Are there examples of a frowning face crater? (etc.) Or is pareidolia mainly a positive experience? :p

By: Michelle Rochon

Michelle Rochon — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 17:11:38 +0000

I never thought I’d say a crater is adorable.

By: Lyford Rome

Lyford Rome — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 17:06:19 +0000

I still say it’s not Lenin in your bathroom shower, but the ghost of Col. Sanders:

http://www.bautforum.com/showpost.php?p=288208&postcount=14

By: Bourgeois Nerd

Bourgeois Nerd — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 16:39:39 +0000

I didn’t see the Millennium Falcon, but I was thinking more “Death Star” until I read that it was supposed to be a happy face (which, yeah, it does, kinda).

By: gopher65

gopher65 — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 16:19:11 +0000

I immediately saw pacman.

By: BronzeDog

BronzeDog — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 16:04:36 +0000

Anyone remember FaceBall 2000? That was a fun little pointless game.

By: Jesse

Jesse — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 15:48:25 +0000

It looks kinda like a peach in the new photo to me. I had a very hard time picking out the smiley face.

By: Pro Libertate

Pro Libertate — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 15:47:04 +0000

I, for one, welcome our Smiley Face overlords.

By: Tara Mobley

Tara Mobley — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 15:43:54 +0000

I’d forgotten about that sequence in The Watchmen. I havn’t read it a couple years. Good to know that smiley face is based on an actual crater. But the actual crater is far more interesting.

By: Octavio Valdes

Octavio Valdes — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 15:22:12 +0000

A few years back on the graphic novel Watchmen, Alan Moore had the ending of chapter IX happen on this very spot, yet as it looks rather different from the actual site I think Mr Moore didn’t have visual reference of it. Interestingly enough Galle crater looks closer to the blood stained smiley face that is a constant theme throughout the novel.
Check the sequence at http://iat.ubalt.edu/moulthrop/hypertexts/wm/AN/marspnls.htm

By: Karnalis

Karnalis — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 13:41:01 +0000

It’s not just you, Rockingham. I immediately saw the Millenium Falcon in there before seeing anything else! I guess I’m just dorky enough for that to happen (no offense ).

By: DouglasG

DouglasG — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 13:38:32 +0000

Along the right side of the crater, is dark colored soil. Which could be taken as hair if you look at it right. Then there is a heavy brow and a mustache. So, by looking at that part of the picture rather than the smiley face, you can see the face of what looks like a Cro Magnon… (If you squint your eyes and tilt your head just so…)

By: Rockingham

Rockingham — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 13:24:56 +0000

Is it just me, or can you see the Millenium Falcon in there?

By: George Harris

George Harris — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 13:05:03 +0000

The color one looks more like a deer footprint to me. Imagine the size of the deer that would have left that track.

By: Wolverine

Wolverine — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 12:53:31 +0000

Spaceweather currently features a new variety I'd never encountered: prominence pareidolia. Brontosaurus and gazelle-shaped solar prominences? Mmkay...

By: Will

Will — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 12:42:37 +0000

Does anyone else think the crater looks like Joseph Merrick, ie. the Elephant Man?

By: Jen-Luc

Jen-Luc — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 11:30:00 +0000

I’ve learned a new vocabulary word today for a phenomenon I’ve always marveled at… finally, an explanation for those people who see the face of Jesus in their morning toast…