Mars mystery: NASA Curiosity Mars rover photos mysterious ‘alien’ anomaly on Red Planet

NASA’S Curiosity Mars rover has photographed an unexpected anomaly amid the Red Planet’s arid surface, the US space agency has revealed.

06:20, Tue, Jun 25, 2019 | UPDATED: 06:40, Tue, Jun 25, 2019

Mars: NASA spots Starfleet logo in dune footprint

Curiosity is NASA’s car-sized rover which has been exploring the crater Gale on Mars since 2012. The rover’s exhaustive mission includes investigating the brutal Martian climate and geology and assessing whether basic life ever thrived on Mars. And UFO conspiracy theorists now believe NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover has now stumbled across its greatest discovery yet, after an anomaly was clearly spotted in a photo.

The Curiosity’s black and white photograph shows the desert landscape with high rocky hills in the background.

n the thousands of images we’ve received from Curiosity, we see ones with bright spots nearly every week
NASA's Justin Maki

In front of the larger rock formations, an apparently elevated white blob is clearly evident.

The photograph, which has a June 16 timestamp has sparked the expected frenzy among alien life conspiracy theorists, who have rushed to claim it is conclusive evidence of alien life on Mars.

However the reality of the anomaly in fact is far more prosaic.

A cosmic ray, camera lens flare or simply sunlight reflecting off rocks are almost certain to have been responsible.

NASA Curiosity Mars Rover anomaly

NASA Mars anomaly: An apparently elevated white blob is clearly evident in a recent photo (Image: NASA)

Curiosity-anomaly

NASA Mars anomaly: The photo has sparked a frenzy among UFO conspiracy theorists (Image: NASA)

Cosmic rays are formed by highly charged atomic particles, often from outside our own solar system, which travel through space at almost the speed of light and can produce visual effects upon impact.

Cosmic rays are more common on Mars than on Earth due to the Red planet’s thin atmosphere which does not offer as effective a barrier to cosmic radiation.

Armed with 17 cameras, the Curiosity rover has roamed 13.38 miles (21.58km) on Mars, beaming back vital data and tens of thousands of high-definition photographs.

And this is not the first time NASA’s iconic Mars rover has captured anomalies on the Red Planet.

When another bright spot captured in pictures taken by the rover made headlines in 2014, people claimed it was “light from an alien hut”.

The rover has two mounted “navcams” on its mast, which act as a stereo pair of cameras.

The black and white images capture panoramic 3D imagery and each has a 45 degree field of view, offer NASA engineers on Earth a detailed view of the planet’s terrain.

The image in question was taken by the right navcam.

Unfortunately, the left camera wasn’t looking in the same direction, and photos from the same set and time show it having swivelled down to take some kind of space selfie, showing parts of the craft over rocks and dust on the ground.

READ MORE: NASA ‘space graveyard’ MAPPED

Curiosity-has-been-posting-tons-of-images-from-Mars-on-Twitter-

NASA Mars anomaly: A cosmic ray, camera lens flare or sunlight reflecting off rocks is responsible (Image: NASA)

NASA-Curiosity-Mars-Rover-Rubin-Ridge

NASA Mars anomaly: Curiosity has been exploring the Gale crater since 2012 (Image: NASA)

The appearance and disappearance of the unidentified white blob must to have been rapid, as photos taken immediately before and after d not show the same unidentified phenomenon.

Justin Maki, leader of the NASA team that designed and operates Curiosity’s camera was unimpressed with the Mars Curiosity rover conspiracy theory.

He said: “In the thousands of images we’ve received from Curiosity, we see ones with bright spots nearly every week.

“These can be caused by cosmic-ray hits or sunlight glinting from rock surfaces, as the most likely explanations.”