Not at all long ago, in our galaxy just two planets away, NASA's Messenger probe discovered what appears to be a raised human shape in the surface of Mercury—and it bears a striking resemblance to Star Wars' Han Solo.


The photo was actually captured back in July of 2011, although it hadn't seen public eyes until just last week. And in commendable nerd form, the scientists offered this fantastic quote in the release:

A portion of the terrain surrounding the northern margin of the Caloris basin hosts an elevated block in the shape of a certain carbonite-encased smuggler who can make the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs. If there are two things you should remember, it's not to cross a Hutt, and that Mercury's surface can throw up all kinds of surprises. This block may be part of the original surface that pre-dates the formation of Caloris, which was shaped by material ejected during the basin-forming event.


Of course, the scientists are chalking all this up to "pareidolia," the phenomenon in which humans frequently see other human-like shapes floating around space. But we know a scruffy-looking Nerfherder when we see one. [Yahoo via Fark]