New questions have been raised over the possibility of life on Mars after Nasa's Curiosity rover found a coral-shaped rock on the planet's surface.
The rover, launched in 2011, has captured new images from our closest planetary neighbour - sparking a flurry of speculation.
Social media users have been left shocked by the footage.
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One claimed: "Corals are true signs of ancient life forms along with the ancient rivers. This is a huge discovery!"
Another added: "There's your Mars fossilised foreign life material evidence everybody's been asking for. That's obviously been there all along."
But according to Nasa, the formation shows no signs of life.
The rock was sculpted by wind over time having been formed billions of years ago when water once flowed across the surface of the Red Planet.
The formation has raised new questions about the possibility of life on Mars
|NASA
Nasa said: "Curiosity has found many small features like this one, which formed billions of years ago when liquid water still existed on Mars.
"Water carried dissolved minerals into rock cracks and later dried, leaving the hardened minerals behind."
The space agency explained the wind-driven erosion over billions of years then gradually stripped aware the rock surrounding the minerals, leaving the bizarre shapes found today.
This further cements speculations regarding the ancient existence of liquid water on water is currently a frozen desert.
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People online have been shocked by the images
|NASA
Images of the structure were found on July 24 as part of the robot's current exploration of the Gale Crater, a region rich in network ridges likely formed by ancient groundwater.
The seven-foot-long wheeled robot has a remote micro imager as part of its ChemCam instrument.
Exploration of the Martian surface, including the discovery of structures like these, lets scientists understand the planet's environment from a potentially habitable place, to the desert it is today.
Last year Nasa announced another of its rovers, Perseverance, had discovered the first "possible" signs of life by uncovering what was described as an "arrow-shaped" rock with veins flowing through it.
Images of the rock, named Cheyava Falls after a Grand Canyon waterfall, which were sent back to Earth showed crystalline solids from water flowing over the surface, alongside an area which contained organic compounds and an energy source for "what could have been microbial life".
Ken Farley, a Perseverance project scientist, said: "Chevaya Falls is the most puzzling, complex, and potentially important rock yet investigated by Perseverance.
A 'flower-shaped' rock was found in 2022 on the Red Planet
|NASA
"On the one hand, we have out first compelling detection of organic material, distinctive colourful spots indicative of chemical reactions that microbial life could us as an energy source, and clear evidence that water - necessary to life - once passed through the rock.
"On the other hand, we have been unable to determine exactly how the rock formed and to what extent nearby rocks may have heated Cheyava Falls and contributed to these features."