Outer-Space Illusions 2

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The Eagle Nebula

NASA

The Hubble Space Telescope captured this image of the Eagle Nebula in 1995.

Jesus in the Nebula

courtesy BadAstronomy.com

The circled area in the Hubble image shows what many people perceived to be the face of Jesus.

Smile on Mars

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

Galle crater on Mars, which first showed up in Viking Orbiter images, looks like a "happy face."

The Heart of Space

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

In 1999 the Mars Orbiter Camera captured this image of a heart-shaped mesa in Mars' south polar region.

Outer-Space Illusions

The face on Mars, Jesus in a nebula, and more

The Martian Canals

NASA

Percival Lowell mapped the straight lines he observed on the Martian surface, which he believed to be intentionally engineered canals.

Bridge on the Moon

Robert Dyrda

This image shows the region on the Moon in which John J. O'Neill reported seeing a gigantic natural bridge in 1953.

The Face on Mars

NASA

In the 1970s, the Viking mission took this image of a formation in the Cydonia region of Mars that resembled a human face.

...Or Is It?

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

In 2001, the Mars Orbiter Camera acquired this high-resolution image of the same formation in Cydonia, which showed the "face" to actually be a highly eroded mesa that looks like a human face at certain times, due to shadows and lighting.

The Inca City

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

In 1972 scientists on the Mariner 9 mission gave the informal name "Inca City" to this area of intersecting ridges in the south polar region of Mars.

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