While studying the Red Planet, astronomers released a photo after discovering an image from a canyon on Mars that resembles a Chinese dragon.
Spotted the formation, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter first in July 2007 in the Southwestern Melas Chasma Region, the HiRISE team of NASA released the unique formation as a picture of the day.
The High-Resolution Imaging Experiment or the HiRISE is used by NASA for detecting images of the red Planets' environment as its camera allows to take pictures of vast areas of Martian terrain and it has the capability of seeing features of the Mars' formation as small as a kitchen table.
NASA's HiRISE team shared the photo on Twitter and shared how they discovered the unique shape of the terrain and captioned the tweet stating that as they rotated the image of light-toned blocky material in Southwestern Melas Chasma they come up to a fabled Chinese dragon on one of its perspective.
Melas Chasma Region's floor has an unusual blocky deposit with a composition of light-toned blocks in a darker matrix and the high-resolution camera, HiRISE image reveals layers only a few meters thick in various light-toned blocks as the blocks vary in its sizes but most of it falls between the diameter of 100 to 500 meters.
As they run down a check on the images they found out that most blocks appear rounded while others have angular edges in which it can be very elongated as the morphologies of the blocks suggest ductile deformation, wherein it can only be obtained from a flow or by a tectonic disruption after emplacement.
On the side of the darker matrix ripples are interspersed between the blocks.
Along the wall rock to the south, small valleys can be seen.
A mixture of two geologic units, the wall rock differs mainly in their reflectance, while the light-toned unit appears to be thinner and only exposed in localized spots as several of the light-toned deposits are can only be seen in the valleys, and it suggests that it is exposed by erosion or deposited.
Not the first 'unusual shape' photographed on Mars
Despite the Chinese Dragon's uniqueness, it is not the first time that the orbiter has spotted unusual shapes on Mars in recent years as it also sent back previously pictures of a formation that resembles the Starfleet symbol in Star Trek.
With a distinct look of the famous Starfleet logo from the Star Trek, the sand formation found in Mars amazed many after its discovery.
University of Arizona's High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment Team or the HiRISE TEAM were the ones who captured the chevron shape in the area of Hellas Planitia and upon assessing the image they conclude that the unique formation was created from a complex story of lava, dunes, and wind in the area.
Based on their research they stated that the flow of the lava around the crescent-shaped dunes but not over them eventually became rock and the dunes eventually blew away, leaving footprints in the lava plain as the researchers call it the dune casts.
Related article: NASA, ESA to Collaborate on Bringing Rocks Back from Mars
