Mars photo sleuths are keeping researchers busy debunking claims about extraterrestrial life on the red planet.
For years amateur explorers have scrutinized images online for signs that intelligent life occupied Mars, and many were convinced that topography of an artifact located in the region known as the Medusae Fossae Formation was an alien spaceship that had crashed, The Inquisitr noted.
However, scientists at Johns Hopkins University have debunked this theory in a paper published recently in the "Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets."
It turns out that the supposed spaceship is nothing but elevated topography, or a hill.
Dr. Seth Shostak, a senior astronomer at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California, elaborated on these findings in an article for NBC News.
He explained that volcanic ash spewed into the sky ages ago formed layers of debris.
The hill, which was previously thought to be an alien spacecraft, is likely the tip of a much bigger hill that was swamped by volcanic debris billions of years ago.
According to Ross Beyer, a research scientist at the SETI Institute, the "lone small hill or knob that existed before the ash blanketed a lot of real estate," according to NBC News.
"This may be the tip of a taller hill that was buried, and there may be other hills in this region that were not as tall and are buried completely, leaving only this one standing above the debris."
Shostak added that, "just like an iceberg, most of the suspected saucer's bulk is invisible — hidden by a sea of loose crud. It's ash, not a crash."
The findings will only further dent the enthusiasm of aspiring Mars sleuths.
In a separate paper published earlier this week, a trio of experts concluded there is a "substantial probability" humans are essentially alone in the universe.
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