The planet Mars is one of the most studied and intriguing bodies in the Solar System because of the fact that water may have thrived in its ancient state, suggesting that life could have once survived on the red planet. Because of this, some of the planet's Earth-like formations have prompted conspiracy theorists to look for clues, that even today, extraterrestrial life survives on Mars.
Recent news surfaced suggesting that an "alien" snake was spotted on an image of Mars taken by NASA. Earlier this month, NASA released high-resolution images of the red planet showing rocky formations similar to that of National Parks in the U.S. However, instead of studying the rock formations, conspiracy theorists claim that they saw an image of an "alien snake" lurking between the crevices of the rock formations.
From the enhanced photo, an image of a long figure that resembles a snake descending the rocks were circled and highlighted to show people that there is indeed and "alien snake" in the photo. Conspiracy theorists say that the photo is enough evidence to prove that there is still life on Mars even today, according to a report by Tech Times. However, NASA continues to deny the allegations.
James Oberg, a former NASA employee, explains that what people perceive as "alien" in nature could only be things that are beyond man's knowledge or familiarity, but it does not necessarily mean that those were clues of extraterrestrial existence.
"Our sensory system is functioning absolutely perfectly for Earth conditions," says James Oberg, former NASA employee in an interview. "But we're still a local civilization. Moving beyond our neighborhood has been visually confusing." It can also be related to what experts called "Pareidolia" where people link what they see with familiar objects, even though what they perceive the object to be isn't really what it seems.
But why is it that every time an "alien sighting" appears on the news, it usually points to Mars? Experts think that it's because Mars is most likely to become man's second habitat so the interest is there. The existence of water in ancient Mars also drives even scientists to look for signs of life that could have existed on Mars.
Mars will always be the nearest focus of interplanetary missions, and with that, people can expect a lot of "pareidolia" references that shouts about evidence of "aliens" on Mars that no one can confirm or deny for sure, maybe until men step foot on the red planet soon.