Humans have been fascinated by Mars for generations, and with the invention of telescopes and later probes, we have been working hard to explore the red planet as much as possible.

Over the years, many different pictures and videos have been sent back from Mars, and many of them contained weird and unexpected things that some people claim are evidence of aliens, or even that ancient human civilizations have already visited or even colonized the planet. Check out some of the most interesting of them and see whether the ‘official explanation’ rings true to you.

The Face On Mars

In 1976, NASA’s Viking 1 Orbiter took a variety of images and sent them back for analysis. One of the most famous pictures from this mission can be seen above, and it is easy to see why it got so much attention. It looks like a giant human face coming out of the ground. Some people thought that this was some type of monument, showing that humans had once occupied, or at least visited, the red planet.

According to NASA, however, it is just a trick of the light that happened to be there when the photo was taken. The eyes, nose, and mouth are simply shadows that occurred naturally. The same spot was photographed again years later, and it looks like nothing more than a normal hill.

The Doorway On Mars

In May 2022, the Curiosity rover sent back an image that looked just like a giant doorway on the side of a hill or mountain. The strange cut out of the mountain looks just like it was created specifically as an entrance. From the picture, it looks like a tall rectangular place where one could walk into a structure. You can’t see what is beyond this entrance, but it is no surprise that people speculated that it is the entrance to a temple on the red planet.

According to NASA, however, it is a natural rock formation that showed up like this due to the rock formations and shadows at the time. Anyone can admit, however, that it does look manmade.

Martian Spiders

For many people, moving to Mars is a dream. For others, it would be a nightmare. If this image, which was taken in 1972 by NASA’s Mariner 9 probe, is what it looks like, the nightmare could be real. As soon as this image was released to the public, people thought it looked like giant spiders on the surface of the planet. The image was taken in an area known as Angustus Labyrinthus, so if you ever visit Mars, maybe avoid this location.

Scientists have said, however, that these are not spiders at all. They say that the images showed up this way due to sunlight hitting the various layers of carbon dioxide that formed over the winter on Mars. This caused cracks in the ice, which then looked like spiders.

Whether you buy the official explanation or not, the fact is that there are some cool-looking things showing up on Mars. Hopefully, NASA and other space agencies, both public and private, will continue to explore this amazing planet.

If you thought that was interesting, you might like to read about a quantum computer simulation that has “reversed time” and physics may never be the same.