On the Red Planet’s Hellas Planitia expanse, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has spotted a somewhat conspicuous logo that can have trekkies leaping for pleasure, whereas rekindling outdated rivalries with the Star Wars fandom within the course of.
“Enterprising viewers will make the discovery that these features look conspicuously like a famous logo,” wrote Ross Beyer of the University of Arizona in a statement discussing the bizarre formation which bears greater than a passing resemblance to Star Treks’ Starfleet logo. The likeness didn’t go unnoticed by considered one of Star Trek’s largest stars, William Shatner, who couldn’t cross up the chance to take a pleasant jab on the Star Wars franchise.
“It’s only a coincidence,” Beyer mentioned, spoiling the enjoyable whereas explaining that the sandy crescent-shaped or barchan dunes had been sculpted by the excessive winds on the Red Planet. Lava flows then parted across the dunes and hardened in place whereas the sand was steadily blown away leaving so-called ‘ghost dunes’ behind them.
There are roughly 300 such ghost dunes within the Hellas Planitia with an extra 480 spotted in a close-by valley.