The Curiosity rover has photographed an object that appears to be in mid-air. 12 seconds later it no longer appears in the images. And it is not the Ingenuity helicopter that is 3,700 km away.

According to the description on the NASA website, the image was taken by the right navigation camera aboard the Curiosity rover on Sol 3613 (day 3613 of the mission), which is equivalent to October 5, 2022. She looks at a dark object in the sky, on the side of a hill jutting out of the Gediz Valley, on the outskirts of Mount Sharp. In the following image from the same camera, it no longer appears.

Whatever appeared in the sky at that moment – ​​if it is really there – has a well-defined part and a diffuse part, which looks like a trail, as if it were really flying or moving.

In the absence of any explanation from the space agency, Internet users put forward several theories in recent days. An alien ship? An insect or a Martian bird? Dust thrown up by strong Martian winds? Dead pixels? A camera glitch?

And although based on other similar shots, it could indeed be a speck of dust covering the camera lens, this has not been verified for a simple reason: NASA has not uploaded the image taken at the same time —that is, in sync—by the other camera (left) of the rover, something that would help to know if it was a speck of dust blocking those pixels or if it was something else.

Other users also noticed two white dots in the upper left of the image, which are often attributed to cosmic rays by NASA.

What do you think of the object in the photograph captured by the Curiosity Rover?