NASA's Perseverance rover captured an image on August 5 of a pointed, wide-brimmed rock in Jezero Crater that resembles a hat. The rock's surface is peppered with small spherical pebbles called spherules, which may record formation processes from billions of years ago. Spherules can form by rapid cooling of molten droplets during volcanic super-eruptions or by condensation of vaporized rock from meteorite impacts. Observers liken the shape to a sorting hat, helmet, volcano or cartoon character, a perception influenced by pareidolia as the apparent likeness depends on viewing angle. The image was taken with the Mastcam-Z instrument.
With its pointed peak and wide brim, it looks like nothing discovered on Mars before. In fact, this Martian rock, newly spotted by NASA's Perseverance rover, is leaving people baffled with its hat-like appearance. The bizarre feature, snapped on Mars' ancient Jezero Crater, is being likened to the 'sorting hat' from Harry Potter. On Reddit, it's also being compared with a helmet, a volcano, a codpiece and Marvin the Martian.
The curious feature is covered in little rocky blobs, which may reveal secrets about its formation - potentially billions of years ago. Mars was once dotted with thousands of huge volcanoes which saw 'super eruptions', according to NASA - the most powerful type of volcanic blast there is. While it may be reminiscent of the sorting hat, this effect may be due to a psychological phenomenon known as 'pareidolia' - perceiving likenesses on random images.
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