Curiosity Captures Multiple Frames in Succession When Photographing a Target Area.

NASA's Curiosity rover has captured a dark silhouette on Mars resembling a jellyfish floating in the sky, but experts say it is not a living creature or structure on the planet, but rather an optical distortion caused by cosmic rays striking the camera's sensor. The image, taken on August 20, 2023, has resurfaced on social media. Curiosity captures multiple frames in succession when photographing a target area.

Two other frames of the same angle, recorded just 13 and 25 seconds earlier with the same camera, show no similar trace, revealing the event was a momentary sensor interaction. Previously, images sent by the Curiosity and Perseverance rovers have shown shapes resembling human heads, bone remains, or fungi, all of which were determined to be eroded rock fragments. However, the jellyfish-like dark silhouette with dangling arms in the 2023 photo differs from known rock formations.

While Earth's strong magnetic field and thick atmosphere block high-energy particles from space, Mars, which lacks a global magnetic field and has a very thin atmosphere, is directly exposed to these rays. Charged particles from space striking the camera's silicon detector cause momentary glitches in images. Such impacts typically create bright white spots or lines, but can occasionally be recorded as dark distortions.

Scientists emphasize that, although image processing errors cannot be entirely ruled out until a definitive technical analysis is conducted, the jellyfish silhouette in the photo stems not from a formation on the Martian surface but from a cosmic ray contact occurring directly within the camera's internal detector. The dark silhouette recorded by NASA's Curiosity rover on the Martian surface, resembling a jellyfish floating in the sky, is assessed to be an optical distortion caused by cosmic rays hitting the camera's sensor, not a living being or structure on the planet.