Surprise from planet Earth.
Have you ever felt like someone was watching you? Well, imagine how the astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) must have felt when they saw a giant ghostly face staring back at them from Earth!
That’s right, a spooky skull-shaped formation was spotted by an unnamed astronaut on February 12, 2023, as the ISS passed over the Tibesti Mountains in the Republic of Chad. The astronaut snapped a photo of the eerie sight with a Nikon D5 digital camera and a 500mm lens, and the NASA Earth Observatory decided to share it with the world on Halloween.
But don’t worry, there’s no need to call Ghostbusters. The skull is actually a natural feature of the landscape, formed by a volcanic crater called Trou au Natron. The crater is about 3,300 feet (1,000 meters) deep and contains a soda lake that is rich in natron, a salt that gives it a white color.
The eye sockets and nose of the skull are cinder cones, which are hills made of volcanic material. The shadows cast by the rim of the crater and the surrounding mountains add to the illusion of a face.
Trou au Natron is one of the most remote and isolated places on Earth, and not much is known about its history or ecology. Scientists believe that it was once filled with a glacial lake until about 14,000 years ago, and that it may harbor some ancient life forms. In 2015, a German expedition reached the crater and collected samples of fossilized algae that date back to 120,000 years ago.
This is how amazing the crater and the ghostly skull look from up close.
This is not the first time that NASA has captured an “eerie face” on another celestial body. In October 2023, the Juno spacecraft took a photo of Jupiter that showed a swirling storm resembling an eye. And in 1976, the Viking 1 orbiter photographed a rock formation on Mars that looked like a human face.
So next time you look up at the sky – or happen to look down from a space station – don’t be surprised if you see something looking back at you. It might just be Mother Nature playing tricks on your eyes.
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