'Mars Buddha' Rock Formation Sends Imaginations Running Wild

— -- Another day, another discovery on Mars -- although this one is up for debate.

We've spotted rock formations on the Red Planet resembling everything from faces, animals and even a floating spoon. Go ahead and add an area that looks a lot like a Buddha statue to that list.

Some enthusiasts say the discovery of the "Stunning Martian God" is proof intelligent life has existed on the Red Planet. The area in questions was found in a photo from NASA's Curiosity rover.

"I think we have seen this statue before, but never this close up. This is a better view of it and shows a face and head turned to its right, with breasts and a plump stomach, shoulders. Very remarkable detail in this photo," Scott Waring, who runs a UFO sightings site wrote. "This photo alone should be enough to convince the United Nations that intelligent life once existed on Mars."

The so-called "Mars Buddha" has sent imaginations running wild, though not everyone is buying it. A more likely explanation for the curiously shaped rock formation is pareidolia, the phenomenon where humans interpret a pattern or meaning in something even though it's not actually there.