In Images: Ghostly Faces in Space

Jesus Toast

Jesus face in a slice of toast

(Image credit: Karl Tate for Live Science)

People have always found faces and patterns in unusual places, a phenomenon known as pareidolia. Though this image of Jesus on toast is doctored, a grilled cheese sandwich with the image of the Virgin Mary sold for $28,000 on eBay in 2004.

Shroud of Turin

Full-length negative photograph of the Shroud of Turin.

(Image credit: Public domain)

One of the most famous examples, the Shroud of Turin is reputed to hold the image of Jesus's face and body

Bucegi Sphinx

bucegi sphinx

(Image credit: Mikadun/Shutterstock.com)

The natural rock formation known as the Bucegi sphinx in Romania looks a bit like the Egyptian monuments.

Face on Mars

face on mars image taken by viking 1 orbiter in 1976.

(Image credit: NASA)

But nowadays, some of the most common places to find these faces is in the shadowy images from space. Here, a photo shows that looks like a face on Mars.

Face on a comet

rosetta comet 67p photo of face

(Image credit: DLR_next (via Twitter as ‏@DLR_next))

The most recent example of pareidolia is this face on the right hand side of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko , which was snapped by the European spacecraft Rosetta on Aug. 3, 2014.

Rabbit in the Moon

pareidolia-rabbit

(Image credit: David Matthews)

In this image, the so-called Rabbit in the Moon is upside-down, with his ears pointing downward.

Gandhi on Mars

gandhi-mars-02

(Image credit: Matteo Ianneo/ESA/Google Maps/Before It's News)

A Martian surface feature that one man says looks like the profile of Mahatma Gandhi.

Smiley face on Mars

happy face on mars

(Image credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum))

An image captured in 2006 revealed what looked like a smiley face on Mars.

Hand of God

Hand of God

(Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/McGill)

The stunning space wallpaper depicts a pulsar wind nebula, produced by the dense remnant of a star that exploded in a supernova. What's left behind is a pulsar, called PSR B1509-58 (B1509 for short).

Tia Ghose
Managing Editor

Tia is the managing editor and was previously a senior writer for Live Science. Her work has appeared in Scientific American, Wired.com and other outlets. She holds a master's degree in bioengineering from the University of Washington, a graduate certificate in science writing from UC Santa Cruz and a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. Tia was part of a team at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that published the Empty Cradles series on preterm births, which won multiple awards, including the 2012 Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism.