Now alien hunters claim to have found an oasis on Mars: Conspiracy theorists spot 'water surrounded by trees' on red planet

  • The radical claim was posted on YouTube channel WhatsUpInTheSky37
  • 'Standing water' was seen in images taken by Nasa's Mars Global Surveyor 
  • Nasa has not found any direct evidence of flowing water on Mars 

By MailOnline Reporter

Published: | Updated:

The surface of Mars bears scars that suggest it was once awash with liquid water.

In September, for instance, Nasa confirmed that 'dark fingers' spotted in Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter images are likely made by liquid moving across, or beneath, the planet's surface.

But Nasa has yet to find direct evidence of this water on the red planet.

Now, despite the combined resources of the world's scientists, an amateur alien hunter claims to have succeeded where they have failed. 

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If trees still existed on Mars, it would need a good source of water to survive – which another conspiracy theorist claimed to have seen in NASA images last year. He claimed eto have found evidence of lakes of standing water surrounded by trees on the surface of Mars

Are these lakes surrounded by trees? YouTube channel WhatsUpInTheSky37 have proposed that Nasa MSSS footage shows standing water

WHY WE SEE ODD THINGS ON MARS

Pareidolia is the psychological response to seeing faces and other significant and everyday items in random stimulus.

It is a form of apophenia, when people see patterns in random, unconnected data.

There have been multiple occasions when people have claimed to see religious images and themes in unexpected places.

On the red planet, one of the most famous is the 'face on Mars' spotted by one of the Viking orbiters in 1976.

This was later proven to just be a chance alignment of shifting sand dunes. 

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In a video posted on YouTube, he claims to have found evidence of lakes of standing water surrounded by trees on the surface of Mars in images taken by Nasa's Mars Global Surveyor.   

The YouTube channel, WhatsUpInTheSky37, is dedicating to scouring Nasa images for evidence of alien life. 

Using images taken by the Mars Orbiter Camera on the Mars Global Surveyor, Will Farrar, who runs the channel from his home in from Salisibury, Maryland, said he believed they showed an abundance of water that could support alien life.

In the description for the video, Will Farrar, who runs the channel, said: 'We now have more than five or six very good shots from the air that seem to show frozen or warm water lakes sitting on the Martian surface.

'This has never been addressed by Nasa since we are still looking for these "minuscule" traces of life and water. I ask you to use your judgement on this one. What does this look like to you?' 

Mr Farrar does not seem to be alone in thinking the footage shows lakes and trees - many people have commented on the video agreeing with him.  

Ted Cox posted: 'How did they let this one get through? They look like tree lined lakes to me.'

Another user, M Brontë, speculated about what else it could be, posting: 'This totally looks like liquid...water, mud, mercury pools...I don't know but definitely a liquidy substance here.'  

The video has also been promoted on the blog, Ufosightingsdaily.com.

Scott Waring, the editor of the blog wrote: 'It's a bit mind-blowing, but there are lakes on Mars and we now have government evidence to back that up. 

NASA originally posted this image online, which alien-hunters have claimed showed lakes surrounded by trees

Nasa originally posted this image online, which alien-hunters have claimed shows lakes surrounded by trees

Scientists believe liquid water once flowed on the surface of Mars billions of years ago, but it has long since evaporated. Small ice deposits may still exist in some of the craters close to the poles and under the surface. A stock picture of Mars is shown 

Scientists believe liquid water once flowed on the surface of Mars billions of years ago, but it has long since evaporated. Small ice deposits may still exist in some of the craters close to the poles and under the surface. A stock picture of Mars is shown 

'This is 100 per cent proof that lakes and rivers exist on Mars, which means that fish and water creatures do as well.

'Water is a main source for animals to exist, so this may also be a big visiting spot from some smaller life forms'.

However, despite the claims, Nasa has said it has yet to find any evidence for significant levels of liquid water on Mars.

There is growing evidence that the planet was once rich in liquid water that shaped valleys, canyons and even dried out ocean beds before it evaporated billions of years ago.

There are, however, hopes that water ice may exist in craters close to the poles and perhaps buried deep under the surface in the Martian soil.

In September, NASA confirmed that 'dark fingers' spotted in Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter images are likely made by liquid moving across, or beneath, the planet's surface

In September, Nasa confirmed that 'dark fingers' spotted in Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter images are likely made by liquid moving across, or beneath, the planet's surface

HOW MARS ONCE HAD MORE WATER THAN THE ARTIC OCEAN 

An artists impression of the ancient Ocean on Mars. NASA scientists have determined that a primitive ocean on Mars held more water than Earth's Arctic Ocean and that the Red Planet has lost 87% of that water to space.

An artists impression of the ancient Ocean on Mars. NASA scientists have determined that a primitive ocean on Mars held more water than Earth's Arctic Ocean and that the Red Planet has lost 87% of that water to space

In 2015, scientists provided the best estimates yet, claiming it once had more water than the Arctic Ocean - and the planet kept these oceans for more than 1.5 billion years.

The findings suggest there was ample time and water for life on Mars to thrive, but over the last 3.7 billion years the red planet has lost 87 per cent of its water - leaving it barren and dry.

The study by scientists at Nasa's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, is the first to determine just how much water Mars had in its past.

During its wet Noachian period - 4.1 to 3.7 billion years ago - it is estimated that it had enough water to cover the entire surface in a liquid layer 450 feet (137 metres) deep.

However, it's likely that most of the water formed an ocean that occupied the northern hemisphere of Mars, which would have been as deep as one mile (1.6km) in places - comparable to the Mediterranean Sea on Earth.

Published in the journal Science, the research estimates that, in total, what is now the planet's arid northern plains would have contained at least 12.4 million cubic miles (20 million cubic kilometres) of water.

'Our study provides a solid estimate of how much water Mars once had, by determining how much water was lost to space,' said Dr Geronimo Villanueva, first author of the paper and a scientist at Nasa's Goddard Space Flight Center.

'With this work, we can better understand the history of water on Mars.'

It is thought that while 87 per cent of the water has since been lost to space, owing largely to the planet losing its atmosphere, the remaining 13 per cent resides in the ice caps.

But in the past, the ocean would have covered about 20 per cent of the planet's surface area.

The most interesting conclusion, though, is that Mars stayed wet for longer than previously thought, which means it was habitable for longer.

'We now know that Mars was wet for a much longer time than we thought before,' said Dr Michael Mumma, co-author of the study and Senior Scientist at Nasa Goddard.

'Curiosity shows it was wet for 1.5 billion years, already much longer than the period of time needed for life to develop on Earth.

'And now we see that Mars must have been wet for a period even longer.'

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