Throughout history, many cultures have imagined figures on the surface of the moon near its full phase. The ancient Chinese saw a woman and a hare. Western cultures see a giant face.

The man (and the woman) in the moon.

But it's all an illusion, created by the human mind's need to latch onto familiar patterns. These random patterns are formed by the contrast of the lighter lunar highlands and the darker maria.

The figures on the moon tend to be visible only to the naked eye; magnification—even through the lowest-powered binoculars—often destroys the illusion.