When the Curiosity rover beamed back its first batch of photos, a hazy, distant object mysteriously appeared and then disappeared in consecutive images of the Martian horizon. Cries of alien activity echoed across the Internet and even NASA scientists were perplexed at first. They eventually decided the hazy object was the plume of dust kicked up by the sky crane that delivered the rover close to the Martian surface, then veered off and struck the ground some 2,000 feet (600 meters) away.
A piece of gravel in the Martian regolith that YouTube user StephenHannardADGUK says might be an ancient human finger, replete with fingernail.
Closeup of a piece of gravel in the Martian regolith that YouTube user StephenHannardADGUK says might be an ancient human finger, replete with fingernail.
A rock on Mars that one YouTube user pointed out looks like a carelessly overturned sandal.
A boulder photographed by the Curiosity rover that YouTube user StephenHannardADGUK says might be a Martian animal.
Closeup of a boulder photographed by the Curiosity rover that YouTube user StephenHannardADGUK says might be a Martian animal.
YouTube user ParanormalCollection posted footage Aug. 7 described as having been "leaked by NASA." It shows white dots flying around near the Martian horizon. However, the dots don't appear in the original photos released two days earlier, suggesting the white dots have been added in.
Are these UFOs hovering in the Martian sky, or dead pixels in Curiosity's CCD camera? Speculation abounds.
The more Photoshop filters YouTube user StephenHannardADGUK applied to these dead camera pixels, the more they resembled actual, 3D objects in the sky.
The more Photoshop filters YouTube user StephenHannardADGUK applied to these dead camera pixels, the more they resembled actual, 3D objects in the sky.
