Zee Media Bureau
Washington: We all have been wondering about that strange “glow” spotted on Mars by Curiosity taking it as as some sort of sign of life. But NASA has debunked this idea saying that the glow was either a shiny rock or a glitch in the rover’s camera.
When the new photograph taken by the rover surfaced, UFO blogger Scott Waring had claimed that there are intelligent creatures living underground.
Now, after investigating the the image, NASA has found the glow to be simply a trick of light.
“One possibility is that the light is the glint from a rock surface reflecting the sun,” a NASA spokesperson was quoted saying.
“When these images were taken each day, the sun was in the same direction as the bright spot, west-northwest from the rover, and relatively low in the sky.
“The rover science team is also looking at the possibility that the bright spots could be caused by cosmic rays striking the camera’s detector.”
NASA’s engineers believe the glow may have been caused by sunlight reaching the camera’s sensors through a vent hole in the camera housing.
The agency said this has happened previously on other cameras on Curiosity and other Mars rovers when the geometry of the incoming sunlight relative to the camera is precisely aligned.
NASA also revealed that such glitches are commonplace.
“Among the thousands of images received from Curiosity, ones with bright spots show up nearly every week.”
With Agency Inputs
