Light on Mars Erupts in Controversy - ET, UFO or Something Natural?

Light on Mars Erupts in Controversy - ET, UFO or Something Natural?

Posted: 09 Jul 2014 10:06 AM PDT

If a picture is worth 1,000 words, how much are two pictures worth, especially if they show an odd-looking, allegedly descending light heading to the surface of Mars?

These are real pictures, taken by the Curiosity rover -- some reports say it took place on June 23, but according to information on the raw Jet Propulsion Laboratory images, it was June 20.

In the first JPL full resolution image, a bright light appears above some mountains (taken by the rover's Navcam Right camera). Thirty-one seconds later, the rover's Navcam Left camera snapped an image of the light seemingly closer to the Martian surface.

Are we looking at pictures of a UFO headed for a landing near the Curiosity rover? Probably not, says Justin Maki, leader of the team that built and operates Curiosity's navigation camera.

"This is a hot pixel that has been around since we started using the Right Navcam," Maki told The Huffington Post in an email.

Watch this short video showing both images taken above Mars.

Hot pixels, as described by PhotographyLife.com, occur when a camera's sensor becomes hot during long exposures.

This isn't the first time that Curiosity's camera caught something very bright in the distance at the Red Planet.

On April 3, the rover photographed an unusual-looking light shining brightly on the surface of Mars.

Astronauts, and space vehicles have recorded lights in space for a long time. This is nothing new. Could the lights possibly be some form of extraterrestrial intelligence, sure that is a distinct possibility. In all liklihood there probably is a simple explanation but nothing should be discounted until we knows for sure. Aldrin said that he had seen a strange bright light from the window of the Apollo 11 craft but that he didn't think it was an alien.

Buzz Aldrin recently was on Reddit for a AMA (ask me anything), he talked about lights that he had seen in space during the Apollo 11 mission.

"There were many explanations of what that could be, other than another spacecraft from another country or another world - it was either the rocket we had separated from, or the 4 panels that moved away when we extracted the lander from the rocket and we were nose to nose with the two spacecraft.

So in the close vicinity, moving away, were 4 panels. And i feel absolutely convinced that we were looking at the sun reflected off of one of these panels. Which one? I don't know. So technically, the definition could be "unidentified.""