NASA's Curiosity Mars
NASA's Curiosity Mars rover drives over a duneReuters

A series of eight photos taken by the Curiosity Rover on Mars has once again sparked rumours of the existence of alien technology on the red planet.

The photos, which were uploaded in a YouTube video released on 9 November, show a ball of light moving on the surface of Mars, and in all the eight photos the ball of light is in a slightly different position. This, the Examiner believes, is "compelling evidence that the ball of light is under intelligent control."

The photos were taken by the Curiosity Rover's left and right front Hazcams (hazard avoidance cameras) back in January, and these were recently uploaded to YouTube by blogger Paranormal Crucible. The blogger explains that the ball of light photographed on Mars moves to different positions for each of the two cameras over a period of 15 minutes.

"The photographs clearly show a white ball of light surveying the martian surface… it appears to move around in a controlled fashion."

The blogger also dispelled doubts on whether the ball of light could be a dead pixel stating that a dead pixel "would remain in the same location" regardless of its field of view.

So what exactly is the ball of light? As per the Examiner, one possible explanation is ball lightning, which is similar to lightning storms on Earth, and has been detected on Mars during dust storms. However, because the ball of light was captured on what appears to be a clear Martian day, the possibilities of it being a natural phenomenon can be ruled out, the media outlet stated.

Another theories suggests that the ball of light could be an "intelligently guided unmanned drone belonging to a technologically advanced society based somewhere on Mars," and based on UFO researcher Paola Harris' "UFOs:How Does One Speak to a Ball of Light," it could also be a form of consciousness capable of communication.

While there is still no concrete explanation on what the ball of light is, not everyone is willing to believe the alien theory. A good number of people noted on Internet forums that the online network of alien believers is making quite a stretch of its latest "find."