Europe space probe unmasks 'face' on Mars

[tocqueville]

Tue Sep 26, 5:09 AM ET

BERLIN - For decades, photos of what appeared to be a huge, face-shaped rock formation on Mars — or even a statue of Elvis — fueled theories of intelligent life on the Red Planet.

But high-resolution stereo cameras from the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter have debunked that myth with the clearest pictures yet of the region where the so-called face was found, ESA has said.

"The face remains a figment of human imagination in a heavily eroded surface," the agency said in a statement.

According to Michael McKay, an ESA engineer on the team that sent Mars Express into orbit, the new photos are so much sharper that they reveal that the area on a 1976 photograph by NASA's Viking 1 orbiter is one of many such raised surfaces in the greater Cydonia region.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060926/ap_on_sc/face_on_mars_1



more info here

http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEM09F8LURE_index_0.html

[Dhalgren]

1. I don't see how this discounts the idea that this might be an

artificial formation. Anyone with any brain would know that this formation is an eroded "mountain". Many of the "Indian" mounds in the US went undetected for years - they were just strange, little steep hills. I am not saying that the "face" on Mars is one thing or the other, but saying that close up or in sharp detail it looks like a steep, isolated, somewhat symmetrical mountain with odd topographical irregularities, doesn't say much either...

[tocqueville]

3. what about that one ?

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

10. Face on Mars = Virgin Mary on a cheese sandwich. -nt

[Dhalgren]

11. What about the serpent mounds and turtle mounds in the

US? At some point in time (if they had not been discovered as what they were) they would have eroded to the point of unrecognizable hills. I am not saying that the "face" on Mars is artificial. I am taking the Fortean view that no proof one way or the other has been proffered...

[ProdigalJunkMail]

12. i think all that other evidence of life and civilization on Mars

is proof enough for most. But hey...believe what you want...it's fun.

sP

[Dhalgren]

13. The jury is still out on the Mars question. But it is always fun to

assume facts not in evidence. :hi:

[ProdigalJunkMail]

14. we do it all the time...

it's called life :-) I do love dreaming up such stuff. Makes this hum drum life a little more fun...

:hi: back at ya!

sP

[Dhalgren]

19. There are people in my family who absolutely believe that they

have "seen" a "ghost". There was , supposedly, one in our house that my mother named "Uncle Albert". I never experienced Uncle Al, myself, but several other members swore to it. It is the kind of thing we humans seem to love; spice of life, and all that...

[Bridget Burke]

2. Thanks for the link....

I was never convinced there was a "Face" on Mars--but humans still find recognizable shapes in natural features.

Excellent Hi-Res shots of Mars, Earth, etc. New PC backgrounds, anyone?

[ProdigalJunkMail]

4. the worst part of the pic from '76

was the fact that there were loads of 'pixel' errors in received image and the response was to just leave those pixels black...and a lot of that black was what people believed were eyes and a nostril. This is why raw data should not always be shown to the public...

sP

[shain from kane]

5. How old in the sphinx? Give it another 10,000 years, and see what it

looks like.
Cover-up continues.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

6. yep...with all that OTHER evidence of life on Mars

thanks for the laugh this morning...

sP

[Bridget Burke]

7. I grew up on Robert Heinlein's books....

And dreamed of the canals of Mars, flowing past the ancient pastel ruined towers built by the wise Old Martians.

But the New Mars seems pretty fascinating in its own way. Even though the Old Martians might be fossils of tiny creatures who didn't manage to evolve.

Someday, humans will be the New Martians.

[shain from kane]

9. We are Martians.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062168/

[Ezlivin]

15. That sounds more like Ray Bradbury's description of Mars

I'm a Heinlein reader, but I have to admit that what you described sounds more like Bradbury.

Are you thinking of "The Martian Chronicles" perchance?

[IChing]

22. Sounds more like Edgar Rice Burrough mars books and Bradbury

I started to read because of Burrough's covers as a early teen then Bradbury and Heinlein.

[magellan]

8. Seeing faces in shapes and shadows is called matrixing

It's a natural thing humans do. We're always looking for the recognizable, and to impose order on randomness.

Still it's a very cool formation.

[greyl]

16. Matrixing? And I thought it was Pareidolia ;)

Pareidolia

As I'm building part of my art career upon it, it's one of my favorite words. :)

[magellan]

17. Well you see

...'matrixing' is what they call in on Ghost Hunters, and I trust them! lol

Pareidolia, I hadn't heard that word before. Thanks. :)

[greyl]

23. Ah, Ghost Hunters isn't available here - never saw it.

I guess matrixing makes for a better TV word than pareidolia. ;)

[ChickMagic]

18. We are a pattern seeking species

We have to be in order to recognize our mothers at birth. Our
brains are hardwired to seek patterns. I see animals in cloud
formations, but they aren't real animals. Honest. :)

[magellan]

20. Okay, you aren't weird :-)

Have you noticed how different people see different patterns in clouds and in the night sky? My husband and I rarely agree on what we've spotted. He's from the UK...where they call the Big Dipper the Plough.

[ChickMagic]

24. That is interesting

My husband and I rarely agree on cloud shapes either, but we're each
identifying patterns. The Plough, huh? Well, it makes sense. Kinda.
Except for the dipping handle. :)

[ProdigalJunkMail]

21. hi-res overhead shot found here

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

Just click on the picture to download hi-res image...the 'face' is lower right...

sP