Yogi, Paddington and Winnie the Pooh are bears who reign on Earth, but on Mars they have competition.
The smiling face of a teddy bear appeared as if it had been carved into the surface of this planet before the camera of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
The scientists in charge of HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) processed the images from the powerful camera that has been circling Mars since 2006 and published the photo that records the face of a teddy bear.
“A bear on Mars?”asked the Twitter account of the experiment, followed by the explanation.
“There is a hill with a structure that collapsed in the shape of a V (the snout), two craters (the eyes), and a fracture in the shape of a circle (the head),” noted the scientists at the University of Arizona, in charge of the system.
Each of the features on the 2,000-meter-circumference face has an explanation that offers clues as to how active the surface of our nearest planet is.
“The circular fracture pattern could be due to deposit settlement on top of a buried impact crater,” the scientists said.
“Perhaps the nose is a volcanic or mud vent and the deposit could be lava or mudflows?”
HiRISE, one of the instruments aboard the Orbiter, takes super-detailed photos of the red planet and helps map the surface for possible future missions, whether by humans or robots.
Over the last decade the team has recorded images of avalanches in full swing and discovered dark flows that could be some kind of liquid.
They have also found whirlwinds advancing on the surface of Mars, as well as a mark that to many looked like the logo of the star fleet of Mars. “Trip to the stars”.
What they have never found is that population of little green men that were believed to inhabit the planet.