Astronauts captured a giant "skull" and "blood" of the Earth from the ISS: NASA showed the photo

Humanity may think that it knows the surface of the Earth quite well (at least the part of it that is not underwater), but observing our home from space constantly reveals new and exciting things. For example, astronauts from the International Space Station managed to see a giant "skull" in a volcanic pit in northern Chad (a country in Central Africa), as well as rivers of "blood" in Bolivia and Madagascar.

The photos were published by the American space agency NASA.

An unnamed member of the ISS crew photographed a rather eerie sight earlier this year, which has now been published by NASA under the title "Ghostly Face in the Rock".

The photo, which was taken on February 12, 2023, shows a huge volcanic pit in northern Chad with the illusion of a skull caused by shadows and volcanic features.

"From the ISS station, the volcanic pit and soda lake of Trou au Natron in northern Chad looks like it's looking right at you! The 'face' was formed as a result of past volcanic eruptions and salt deposits from modern hot springs," NASA explained.

The edge of the "face" is partially formed by shadows cast by the edge of a caldera, a type of volcanic crater formed after an explosive eruption or collapse of the surface into a partially emptied magma chamber.

The visibility of the "eyes" and "nose" was formed by volcanic cones, steep conical hills that "grew" around volcanic vents, probably over the past few million or even thousands of years.

The white "face" area is a mineral crust composed of a salt known as sodium natron, a mixture of sodium carbonate, sodium bicarbonate, sodium chloride and sodium sulfate. This mixture is formed when hot spring water evaporates on the surface, raising steam with minerals.

The remoteness of Trou au Natron makes it difficult for scientists to access, but rock and fossil samples collected in the 1960s indicate that it was filled by a glacial lake hundreds of meters deep about 14,000 years ago.

As for the photographs of the "bloody" origins of the Earth, they were taken in September 2023 from an altitude of more than 400 kilometers above the planet's surface.

The first photo, taken on September 7, shows Laguna Colorada in the Bolivian Andes running down the slope of South America. The rusty-red hue is the result of a red algae bloom in the excessively salty shallow water.

The second photo, taken on September 30, shows the Betsiboka River Delta in Madagascar. Although the color of the water is similar to the color in the first photo, the reason for the color is different. In this case, it is like this because of the iron-rich sediment in its waters.

Earlier, OBOZ.UA reported that scientists revealed the secret of bloody waterfalls in Antarctica.

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