A Chinese website has reportedly posted the first sighting of Martian life in the form of a mysterious figure caught on camera by the Spirit rover:

(http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA10214)

According to the Mail on Sunday (http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=509693&in_page_id=1770), the sighting came after alien hunters spent "years" scouring NASA images for evidence of little green men before unearthing this example.

In fact, the Red Planet's first confirmed inhabitant features in this panorama (http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA10214) snapped by Spirit back in November last year. We've marked the approximate position of the extraterrestrial with an arrow:

(http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA10214)

And before you all going running off to the NASA website to get the highest-res snap possible, here's our Martian as seen in the biggest file we could find - the 133 meg tiff.

Well, the jury's out on this one. NASA has the above false colour panorama available here (http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA10214), or you might try the slightly less colourful version here (http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA10216), or stereo representation here (http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA10215). Happy hunting. ®

Related stories

Sarko calls for global Mars exploration gig (12 February 2008)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/02/12/joint_mars_programme/
NASA Mars droid in ET life discovery shock (11 December 2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/12/11/mars_microbe_men_nasa_rover_excitement/
Shiny rocks could hold evidence of Martian life (4 July 2006)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/07/04/mars_life_rocks/
Frozen sea on Mars hints at alien life (23 February 2005)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/02/23/mars_frozen_sea/
Methane on Mars: aliens - or farts in a jacuzzi? (21 September 2004)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/09/21/mars_methane/
Reg discovers corporate logo on surface of Mars (7 January 2004)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/01/07/reg_discovers_corporate_logo/