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08年一張勇氣號火星探測器的舊相竟在一夜間成為互聯網的熱門話題。事緣有人在一張於04年拍攝的火星全景照上發現一個好像丹麥人魚公主像的人形，經分析後，發覺那只是一塊不到6公分的石頭。有關火星人的傳說多不勝數：先有19世紀中葉意大利天文學家斯基亞帕雷利通過望遠鏡，看到火星上的條紋地貌；繼於19世紀末美國天文學家羅威爾聲稱火星上的「運河」是火星文明的證據。
從1965年起，已有幾十艘探測器前往探索火星。1971年「水手九號」拍到火星表面乾涸的河床，證實火星曾有液態，可惜其後兩艘維京登陸器未能找到生命的證據。1996年，一組科學家聲稱從一顆來自火星的隕石找到細菌的化石，但其研究未能取得科學界一致認同。
Searching for Life on Mars
In 2008 an old panorama of the Spirit landing site became one of the hottest talks over the Internet when a humanoid figure resembling the Little Mermaid was found in the image. The figure was actually a piece of rock that is less than 6cm tall. Stories about Mars were not uncommon. Back to the mid 1800's, Giovanni Schiaparelli claimed to see "canals" on Mars through his telescope. Later Percival Lowell claimed that they were irrigation structures built by an advanced civilization.
Since 1965, dozens of probes had been sent to explore Mars. In 1971 Mariner 9 discovered dried river beds, suggesting a one-time less hostile environment. But later the two Viking landers failed to find the telltale signs of life. In 1996, a group of scientists announced they had discovered fossilized bacteria in a Martian meteorite but their findings were disputed. ■甄枝強 資深天文愛好者 圖片鳴謝：NASA/JPL/Cornell/James Canvin
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