Bad Astronomy

Facing the Martian rubble

HiRISE, the awesomely cool camera orbiting Mars, released this very interesting picture of a smallish impact crater on the planet:

The crater is about 300 meters across (as usual, click the picture to embiggenatrize it), and is covered with boulders. That indicates it’s pretty fresh, because after time the boulders get eroded or blown away (though some are 10 meters across!). You see the splash pattern around it too, again indicating relative youth.

When I zoomed in on the crater, though, and took a look, I was surprised to see it looking back at me!

Obviously, it’s my mind playing tricks on me, because it doesn’t look like Jesus.

If you want to keep up with HiRISE and all the amazing pictures it takes, your best bet is to follow it on Twitter. That’s how I found this image. And speaking of Mars, this week’s Carnival of Space is being held at Martian Chronicles.