NASA’s Curiosity Rover Discovered a Tiny Rock Arch on Mars That Looked Like a Cat

In the Gale Crater on Mars, NASA’s Curiosity Rover caught a glimpse and took photos of a strange tiny rock arch. Back on Earth, citizen scientist Kevin Gill managed to stitch the photographs together to create a mosaic perspective in the image seen above.

Some people say that the tiny rock arch resembles a cat or an alien’s head, but NASA’s planetary geologist Abigail Fraeman characterized it as “a particularly whimsical image of an interesting rock texture.” She added in the Rover mission update, “I continue to be dazzled by the textures we’re seeing, especially the prevalence of centimeter sized bumps and lumps poking out of the bedrock. … The whole field of view is about 16.5 cm across, so this is a very tiny feature!”

The delicate arch is most likely made of an erosion-resistant material, according to planetary geologist Michelle Minitti, as the Gale Crater is dusty and windy. Materials that cannot resist erosion would have been swept away long ago.

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