NASA just released a picture that their Messenger probe snapped of Mercury back in 2011, and, well, you can see. It’s totally Han Solo frozen in carbonite. But that’s not all. NASA, living up to their rep as the geeks we all know them to be, let their Star Wars nerd flag fly in the official announcement that accompanied the photo.
NASA scientists had the following to say of the pic (full version here), which they titled “He will not be permanently damaged” after the Darth Vader quote:
“A portion of the terrain surrounding the northern margin of the Caloris basin hosts an elevated block in the shape of a certain carbonite-encased smuggler who can make the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs.
If there are two things you should remember, it’s not to cross a Hutt, and that Mercury’s surface can throw up all kinds of surprises. This block may be part of the original surface that pre-dates the formation of Caloris, which was shaped by material ejected during the basin-forming event.”
The scientists also noted that the photo provides an excellent example of “pareidolia,” a psychological phenomenon where we look at something seemingly random and see significant shapes in it, like seeing animals in clouds or Jesus on toast.
Nah, that’s totally Han Solo. Boba Fett just ran into some Imperial trouble and had to dump him on the wrong planet. He’ll be back.
(via: Gizmodo)
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