Comments on: Facing the Martian rubble

By: Wendy

Wendy — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 22:10:22 +0000

Looks like Slimer to me! Who ya gonna call?!?

By: A.Simmons

A.Simmons — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 12:37:25 +0000

UK readers of a certain age will surely recognise the unmistakable silhouette of Billy the Fish, the half-man, half-fish goalkeeper for Fulchester Utd (from Viz.)

Do I take it that some supernaturalists are seriously claiming that their $deity has manifested in this image, somehow? Let me guess which country in the world they could be in. Hmmm…

By: Michael L

Michael L — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 06:25:00 +0000

@Phil’s response to Tom: ROFLMAO!!!!

By: JoeTheJuggler

JoeTheJuggler — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 20:21:20 +0000

No–it’s still Jesus. Just like this one:

http://www.eyetricks.com/jesus.htm

What you do is gaze at the crater for 30 seconds, then look away (preferably at an image of Jesus), and you’re sure to see an unmistakable likeness of the Shroud of Turin. . .or something.

By: JoeTheJuggler

JoeTheJuggler — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 20:16:32 +0000

No–it’s still Jesus. Just like this one:

http://www.eyetricks.com/jesus.htm

Gaze at the crater, then look away (preferably at an image of Jesus) and you’ll see a perfect image of the Shroud of Turin. . . or something.

By: owlbear1

owlbear1 — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 18:20:47 +0000

“If you stare at the picture carefully you will see the hole as a bulge instead.”

I have to stare very carefully to NOT see craters as bulges.

Makes Mercury look like it has a bad case of measles.

By: owlbear1

owlbear1 — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 18:17:18 +0000

That is obviously the Gorn with a rock in his hand.

By: Chris A.

Chris A. — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 17:52:55 +0000

@Phil:

Nah, it’s Mars expressing its opinion of pareidolia. It looks to me like a left hand (tilted to the left about 30 degrees) giving us the bird.

By: Chris A.

Chris A. — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 17:41:01 +0000

@Bharat:

Most craters are circles because when the impactor hits, it explodes. Don’t think of it “drilling” into the surface so much as hitting and exploding. Thus, a circle. That being said, there are a small number of craters that show an elliptical shape, thought to result from impactors coming in at extremely shallow angles (<5 degrees from horizontal).

By: Phil Plait

Phil Plait — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 16:42:32 +0000

Tim: Nope.

By: Tim

Tim — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 16:25:58 +0000

Phil – I think that you are becoming overly fixated (is that redundant?) on this whole “images that look like religious items” issue. Give it a rest and get back to what you are good at. ASTRONOMY. Thanks

By: Bharat

Bharat — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 15:44:16 +0000

Why is it that most of the impact craters are near circles. (Which I assume happens when the object drops straight in). Do we have impact craters which are, say like a long ellipse.

By: drwilli

drwilli — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 15:17:47 +0000

I was confused too at first. But, after looking at it for a day, I realized that what I think Phil has done, in his inimitable style, is take a photo of nothing and do exactly what RCH does. That is to draw lines on the picture and claim it is something it is not. If that is true, I love it. If I am wrong I will do fifteen “hail Copernicuses” to atone. Thanks Phil and keep up the great posts. Maybe I’m ruining the fun and everyone else has already figured this out.

By: fatherdaddy

fatherdaddy — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 14:54:02 +0000

Heretics! Infidels! Of course you can see Jesus in the crater. You’ve got the hair flowing off to the left, the beard line forming into the mouth and moustache, and Him looking off to the left (Is He telling us he’s a lefty, I think so). I call for a holy war upon the unbelievers. Let The Truth be spread far and wide.

By: ccpetersen

ccpetersen — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 14:25:30 +0000

Andromeda,

RAmen.

By: Spatula

Spatula — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 09:20:10 +0000

That impact looks exactly like a spoon of flour that’s been plopped into the middle of a big bowl of flour.

By: Andromeda

Andromeda — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 07:55:58 +0000

it’s the Flying Spaghetti Monster! it’s plain to see that Mars has been touched with His Noodly Appendage! ARRRRRR!

By: IVAN3MAN

IVAN3MAN — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 07:34:38 +0000

«bønez_brigade»:

Ehhhhh, now why didn’t that open parenthesis [in the URL] get caught by the link-detector-machinery?

I've had similar problems when I first started posting URL links on this blog, several months ago.

For some reason, the system there at Discover does not recognize URL's with parentheses and, consequently, cuts it short. The only way to get around that is to either 'quote' the entire URL within double-quotation marks and place it between the appropriate HTML tags with a 'keyword' as the link, e.g.:

BloodyAwkwardURL.com" target="_blank"><CLICK HERE

or, if you can't be bothered with all that, incorporate TinyURL.com into the links/toolbar of your web-browser and it will simplify the awkward URL into a more managable one; then just post that one instead.

By: Supernova

Supernova — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 05:38:36 +0000

It’s George W. Bush, obviously.

By: IVAN3MAN

IVAN3MAN — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 05:09:56 +0000

Pffft! You all have got it wrong. This is what that crater looks like:

A male White-fronted Capuchin

By: Jeffersonian

Jeffersonian — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 02:38:15 +0000

Does anyone understand what Phil’s purple outline represents?

By: gopher65

gopher65 — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 02:22:25 +0000

I disavow any knowledge of gophers on Mars, today or in the future.

By: mandydax

mandydax — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 02:13:58 +0000

The Dark Mark! The Death Eaters are on Mars!

By: space cadet

space cadet — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 02:07:16 +0000

MARS HAS GOPHERS!!!!!

By: Jivlain

Jivlain — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 01:58:40 +0000

It’s a Martian cephalopod! Someone alert PZ!