So here I am, clicking through NASA's raw-images library of photos delivered by the Curiosity rover all the way from the distant Red Planet. Despite being millions of miles away, the minute details of Mars are as close as a browser window, and for me, there are few uses for a browser as worthwhile as a trip to space. It's the planet I feel closest to (other than our own) since NASA has two operational rovers roaming its surface, beaming back vacation photos of exotic landscapes and doughnut-shaped rocks. It's both familiar and peculiar, a mirror world to the dry Southwestern landscapes of my New Mexico home.Īs someone who spends weekends gazing at stars, gets lost for hours in NASA websites and writes about space for a living, Mars holds a particular allure for me. With Mars being such a popular target of intriguing sightings lately, I decide to test my own powers of pareidolia by staring at images of the Red Planet. How hard can it be to harness the power of pareidolia - a phenomenon that causes people to see recognizable faces and shapes in unrelated objects - to find familiar sights on Mars? We do it all the time on Earth when we see sheep in clouds, the Virgin Mary on toast and the famous ape Harambe in a Cheeto.

I don't believe those are signs of alien life like some do, but I want to be part of the fun. I'm both delighted and fully skeptical when UFO and alien fans spot things like statues of ancient gods and walking women on Mars. I want this little spoon-like formation spotted on the planet to be a sign of advanced table manners there. I want this goofy-looking Mars rock to be a real fish.

Like Agent Fox Mulder from ' The X-Files,' I want to believe.

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