Skull photographed from the International Space Station

An astronaut has captured a mysterious photo from the International Space Station (ISS). What looks like a skull appears.

We humans tend to see faces or objects in objects – for example, the wood grains in a table become smiling. This phenomenon is called pareidolia, which translated from ancient Greek means “appearance” or “mirage.”

A very well-known case, for example, is the “Mars face” – a rock formation on the Red Planet that resembles a face. Objects that look like familiar structures can often be seen from space. This is also shown by the photo taken by the astronaut who took a wonderful photo from the International Space Station (ISS) in October 2023.

NASA released the image as a mystery revealed on October 31 — just in time for Halloween. What looks like a skull appears. Of course it’s not a real skull. The mysterious object is located on Earth, specifically in the north of the African country of Chad.

The alleged skull is “Trou au Natron” in the remote Tibesti Mountains in the Sahara Desert. This is a caldera, that is, a crater. Craters are formed as a result of volcanic eruptions or volcanic collapse. The white crust made from sodium carbonate is what gives “Trou au Natron” – “soda hole” – its name.

According to NASA, the “eyes” and “nose” of the skull are so-called ash cones made of volcanic material. The dark cones in the middle of the soda-white vent make the caldera look like a skull.