The Face on Mars
Written by Fraser Cain
One of the most surprising images sent back by NASA's Viking 1 mission was a region on Mars called Cydonia Mensae. And one object stuck out in particular – I'm sure you've heard of "the face on Mars".
And there's no doubt, when you look the original Viking image, it looks like a giant mountain carved into the shape of a human face. UFO buffs immediately thought that this was evidence of a long lost civilization on Mars.
NASA engineers immediately dismissed it as a trick of light and shadow; however, a second image captured by Viking also showed a similar face-like look to the rock. The human mind is designed to see faces, and so geologists just assumed that this was an example of pareidolia; like images of Virgin Mary that show up in tree stumps.
Future spacecraft re-imaged the region with a much higher resolution, and at different angles, revealing the face on Mars to be nothing more than mesa, and the NASA scientists had originally assumed.
In the latest images, capture by the HiRISE instrument on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter ends all controversy, clearly showing how it's just a hill. In fact, the face-like features are almost impossible to recognize any more.
Here's an article about a recent image of the face on Mars.
Enjoy a NASA article about the face on Mars, and information on the Mars face from the MSSS team.
Finally, if you'd like to learn more about Mars in general, we have done several podcast episodes about the Red Planet at Astronomy Cast. Episode 52: Mars, and Episode 91: The Search for Water on Mars.
Filed under: Astronomy
