Mysterious ‘Skull-shaped’ rock found on Mars puzzles scientists: report
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New York: NASA’s Mars rover stumbled upon something mysterious on the red planet—skull-shaped elevation.
The Perseverance rover discovered the mysterious rock, called ‘Skull Hill’ on April 11 while on a slope down a ridge called Witch Hazel Hill.
Witch Hazel Hill, according to the scientists, is part of a large 28-mile-wide basin called the Jezero Crater, which is believed to have held a lake once.
The rock remains a mystery as it intriguingly looks different from the surroundings where it belongs.
The area surrounding the rock is dusky and light-coloured while the rock is dark and angular alongside being covered in tiny pits.
‘This float rock uniquely contrasts the surrounding light-toned outcrop with its dark tone and angular surface, and it features a few pits in the rock,’ NASA reportedly said.
Scientists believe that the pits on the rock may have formed from erosion or it may have been dropped there by an ‘impact crater’.
‘The pits on Skull Hill may have formed via the erosion of clasts from the rock or scouring by wind,’ NASA stated.
Another theory is that ‘the 'Skull Hill' could be an igneous rock eroded from a nearby outcrop or ejected from an impact crater’.
Alongside, scientists found the colour of Skull reminiscent of meteorites that the Curiosity rover previously found in Gale crater.
Meanwhile, scientists are working on to understand the origin of the rock and how it ended up there.
