Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Off Topic The Little Mermaid on Mars!

The little mermaid, created by Danish 19th century writer Hans Christian Andersen (and the inspiration for the Disney movie about Ariel) is the most famous symbol of Copenhagen. Here is the Copenhagen statue of her:



Well, now it turns out that the little mermaid has apparently moved out of Copenhagen and made a beeline for Mars! At least she seems to have been found on Mars. Sure, she seems to have turned around about 180 degrees and she is waving to her audience, but that just shows how polite she is, doesn't it? Note the little mermeaid in the inset in the upper left corner!

The Little Mermaid(?) on Mars

Ann

Most places were referring to that "figure" as a Sasquatch,since it looks quite a bit like the infamous photo from years back of a supposed Bigfoot striding into the woods.

However the photo in the current article is more than a bit deceptive...once you realise the actual size of the image, that is.

Nasa\'s Humanoid Figure on Mars

I'm not suggesting that this is an alien humanoid for real, Saffron! I just thought it was funny. The thing is, the craze about "life on Mars" has been going on for more than a century. In the late 1800s, American astronomer Percival Lowell claimed that he had seen canals on Mars, and he also insisted that these canals could only have been made by an advanced civilisation. In 1906, he published the book Mars and its Canals, and in 1908 - exactly a hundred years ago! - he published Mars As the Abode of Life. See Wikipedia article.

Like I said, this created a craze that has never really died down. I read someplace that during the first decade of the twentieth century, a rich heiress promised to give a fortune to anyone who could prove that life existed on another planet. However, no one would get anything for proving the existence of life on Mars, because that was just too easy!!!

About twenty or thirty years ago, a blurry, seemingly humanoid shape was spotted on Mars by an orbiting craft from the Earth:



However, a better picture by another spacecraft showed that this was just a mountainous formation, and it was a trick of the angle of the illumination from the Sun and the poor resolution of the image that created the impression that this was a face:



So believe me, I'm not suggesting that the "humanoid shape" discovered on Mars this time is for real. I just think it is funny how the idea of life on Mars keeps coming back at any opportunity. But really, I did think that this newest little shape was sort of cute - at least at this resolution and illumination! - and I did think it superficially resembled the little mermaid, too. Oh, well.





Ann

Marvin! Now, I am absolutely prepared to believe that Marvin resides on Mars. No question.

LabRat