Just to emphasize that you can fall prey to pareidolia even when you're quite aware of what it is, we present today's Astronomy Picture of the Day. Decide what you see (if anything), then mouse over the image to see what we saw in it (pretty much instantly!).

I do post mouse rollover, but not before. Now I can't shake the image.

Yep! It's like that damn Japanese song that we linked to in a previous Rant. Once you have the "weird" stuff in your head, you just can't stop seeing or hearing it. Damn you, pareidolia!

On the other hand, despite the ridiculous number of reported "sightings" of mythological or religious figures it produces, you have to admit that the human brain's pattern-finding software is a pretty neat feature. If more people could just have fun with it, instead of claiming it represents something mystical and woo, we'd be in a much happier place.

*lol* Before I rolled over the image to see what you guys saw, I "saw" the shark from Jaws!

Instead of the top curve of Darth's helmet, picture the tip of the shark's snout from a point of view underneath its belly looking up at it, and instead of the goggles, the shark's partly open mouth...

I agree, pareidolia can be a lot of fun as long as you know what it is and don't read deep, mystical significance into what you see.

No, no, no! It's King Kong! Eating Fay Wray.

I see a shark, but old radiator snout seems more appropriate considering the milieu.

We've all heard the stories of people claiming to see the image of Jesus in a block of cheese or the virgin Mary in a bagel. Obviously, those "images" were just religous examples of pareidolia. I have, however, seen a picture that is quite astonishing. If you study this picture for several seconds, you will actually see in the background, one of the oldest Catholic monasteries in Italy. I had to study the picture for several seconds before I saw it, but when I did see it, it was obvious.

Wow, Fan-man. It took me a really long time to see the monastery. A really...really...long and happy time. I also eventually noticed Charlie Sheen.

i'm with you on having fun with the phenomenon, jeff. before we moved, our textured ceiling paint afforded me a vision of boba fett every night before i slept.

Boba Fett in the ceiling? I'd be worried about waking up in carbonite in the middle of the night. Or, rather, not waking up at all, trapped in carbonite. You know what I mean.

I remember a friendly monster in my childhood bedroom, depicted in the peeling paint on the door. I was awfully fond of that guy, until my mother replaced all the doors.

My current favorite pareidolia is a shot of Abraham Lincoln slow-dancing cheek-to-cheek with a gorilla in the cloth texture on the arm of my sofa-bed. No, I'm not making this up.

Human beings seem to be pattern seeking animals. We try to see patterns in order to make sense of our environment. It is because of our ability to see patterns and the effort we put into seeing patterns .. that we see patterns. The ability to see a familar pattern in the clouds, for example, is not an indication that what is magined there actually exists in situ, nor is it an indication that the object magined exists as anything but an abstract concept. For we only seem to be able to imagine things of which we have a visual concept. For example, I don't hear many people say that they saw an Andromedian in the clouds. That term evokes no collective visual response. On the other hand, saying that one saw a unicorn in the clouds, does evoke some sort of collective visual response. That is, we have formed a visual pattern of what a unicorn looks like even though I feel pretty confident that no one has seen one in actuality.

Just wanted to say, as the person who took that picture, that I never saw that in the picture...but "wow." That's shocking. Thanks for pointing it out!

jay ballauer
www.allaboutastro.com

Thanks for dropping by, Jay. Your image is, as you certainly know, beautiful (as are many of the others we saw on your site). We were also excited to see your advice to those in the market for telescopes, as we are particularly keen on entering that market ourselves.

We'll definitely be checking in for more photos, as well as keeping an eye out for your work on the APOD.

I love this stuff! I have a bunch of drawings and photos of "people" caught hiding in strange places; towels, walls, tree knots, rocks. It's definitely fun!

I see figures in the carpet all the time. Used to drive my friends crazy--one used to locate what I was staring at and stomp viciously on the spot.

But, once I saw a dancer. She was wearing a halter and filmy skirt, and every time I blinked she changed positions in her dance.

I know this is old old, but I have to say.... when I looked, I saw the Emperor (I was thinking star wars as per the hint, but the fuzzy stuff to the top left of the Darth mask looks like a face half hidden in a hood to me.)

I frequently see images of Jebus in tortillas, fried eggs, etc. I never tell anybody about them. I just eat them quietly and quickly so as to absorb all His mighty power into myself. No way I'm sharing that with a bunch of credulous losers, even at 50% of the concession sales.

BTW, count me amongst those disappointed at the foreclosure of further comments on the Polar Opposites thread. I was sort of hoping there would be a signup sheet for The Intrepid League of Asshats. Or is that a show on Adult Swim?

On the local news here in Minneapolis they just had a story the other day about a couple who see the face of Jebus on their bedroom door. The guy specifically said, "This isn't like some grilled cheese sandwich or something, this is the real deal" and the woman claimed she could feel his presence! The newscasters were struggling to keep from laughing at them. They showed the door. It looked more like Ted Nugent to me!