Did Martians build a pyramid? NASA scientist says it's a rock

Life on Mars? Alien enthusiasts are pointing to a pyramid-like formation in an image taken by NASA's Curiosity rover as proof that someone or something must have existed on the Red Planet.

On a YouTube channel called Paranormal Crucible, a video posted Saturday, shows the NASA image with a narrator, in a computerized voice, suggesting that "due to its near-perfect design and shape, (the formation) is the result of intelligent design." The video also says the pyramid could be the size of a small car or a the tip of a "much larger pyramid buried beneath the surface."

So did Martians build a pyramid similar to those in Egypt? Unlikely, says Jim Bell, a professor of planetary science at Arizona State University and a member of NASA's Mars rover exploration team.

In an interview with USA TODAY Network, Bell confirms the validity of the image, taken May 7, but says it's not uncommon for natural rock formations to appear as recognizable objects. "The human eye is good at recognizing familiar shapes or human features in random objects," Bell says.

He points to a 2008 image taken on Mars that some people said looked like a Yeti.

"The picture looked like a mythical creature, but pictures from different angles show it's just a funny shaped rock," Bell says.

Bell says the pyramid-like structure is similar to angular volcanic rock surfaces you might see in Hawaii or Iceland. He says Mother Nature most likely played a part, with wind smoothing the rock over hundreds of thousands of years. He says the raw image shows there are a handful of other rocks that also could also be likened a jagged pyramid.

NASA releases images captured by its two rovers as they receive them and posts them online for public viewing.

"We don't know whether Mars has life and part of what we are doing is looking for evidence," Bell says. "There could be a high school kid in Europe who sees the image and notices a preserved fossils in a rock. We don't know, which is why we put the images out."

So keep on looking!

Follow @MaryBowerman on Twitter.