Cydonia (Mars)
Encyclopedia
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...
, and has attracted both scientific and popular interest. The name originally referred to the albedo feature
Albedo feature
An albedo feature is a large area on the surface of a planet which shows a contrast in brightness or darkness with adjacent areas....
(distinctively coloured area) that was visible from Earthbound telescope
Telescope
A telescope is an instrument that aids in the observation of remote objects by collecting electromagnetic radiation . The first known practical telescopes were invented in the Netherlands at the beginning of the 1600s , using glass lenses...
s. The area borders plains of Acidalia Planitia
Acidalia Planitia
Acidalia Planitia is a plain on Mars. It is located between the Tharsis volcanic province and Arabia Terra to the north of Valles Marineris, centered at...
and the Arabia Terra
Arabia Terra
Arabia Terra is a large upland region in the north of Mars in that lies mostly in the Arabia quadrangle. It is densely cratered and heavily eroded. This battered topography indicates great age, and Arabia Terra is presumed to be one of the oldest terrains on the planet...
highlands.
The area includes the Mars regions: "Cydonia Mensae", an area of flat-topped mesa
Mesa
A mesa or table mountain is an elevated area of land with a flat top and sides that are usually steep cliffs. It takes its name from its characteristic table-top shape....
-like features, "Cydonia Colles", a region of small hill
Hill
A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. Hills often have a distinct summit, although in areas with scarp/dip topography a hill may refer to a particular section of flat terrain without a massive summit A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. Hills...
s or knob
Knob
Knob may refer to:* A rounded handle that one pulls or twists:** Doorknob, a round handle one turns to open any door** Control knob, controls a device** Brodie knob on the steering wheel...
s, and "Cydonia Labyrinthus", a complex of intersecting valleys. As with other albedo features on Mars, the name Cydonia was drawn from classical antiquity, in this case from Kydonia, a historic polis
Polis
Polis , plural poleis , literally means city in Greek. It could also mean citizenship and body of citizens. In modern historiography "polis" is normally used to indicate the ancient Greek city-states, like Classical Athens and its contemporaries, so polis is often translated as "city-state."The...
(or "city-state") on the island of Crete
Crete
Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...
.
Cydonia contains the "face on Mars" featurelocated about half-way between Arandas Crater and Bamberg Crater The ESA "skull" formation is a few kilometres south of the "face".
Location
Cydonia lies in the planet's northern hemisphereNorthern Hemisphere
The Northern Hemisphere is the half of a planet that is north of its equator—the word hemisphere literally means “half sphere”. It is also that half of the celestial sphere north of the celestial equator...
in a transitional zone between the heavily crater
Impact crater
In the broadest sense, the term impact crater can be applied to any depression, natural or manmade, resulting from the high velocity impact of a projectile with a larger body...
ed regions to the South, and relatively smooth plain
Plain
In geography, a plain is land with relatively low relief, that is flat or gently rolling. Prairies and steppes are types of plains, and the archetype for a plain is often thought of as a grassland, but plains in their natural state may also be covered in shrublands, woodland and forest, or...
s to the North. Some planetologists
Planetary science
Planetary science is the scientific study of planets , moons, and planetary systems, in particular those of the Solar System and the processes that form them. It studies objects ranging in size from micrometeoroids to gas giants, aiming to determine their composition, dynamics, formation,...
believe that the northern plains may once have been ocean bed
Seabed
The seabed is the bottom of the ocean.- Ocean structure :Most of the oceans have a common structure, created by common physical phenomena, mainly from tectonic movement, and sediment from various sources...
s and that Cydonia may have been a coast
Coast
A coastline or seashore is the area where land meets the sea or ocean. A precise line that can be called a coastline cannot be determined due to the dynamic nature of tides. The term "coastal zone" can be used instead, which is a spatial zone where interaction of the sea and land processes occurs...
al zone.
"Face on Mars"
Pareidolia
Pareidolia is a psychological phenomenon involving a vague and random stimulus being perceived as significant. Common examples include seeing images of animals or faces in clouds, the man in the moon or the Moon rabbit, and hearing hidden messages on records played in reverse...
has also inspired science fiction literature which typically assume it is a non-natural structure. For comparison, an example of naturally occurring pareidolia on Earth is New Hampshire's Old Man of the Mountain
Old Man of the Mountain
The Old Man of the Mountain, also known as the Great Stone Face or the Profile, was a series of five granite cliff ledges on Cannon Mountain in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, USA that, when viewed from the north, appeared to be the jagged profile of a face. The rock formation was above...
.
In one of the images taken by Viking 1
Viking 1
Viking 1 was the first of two spacecraft sent to Mars as part of NASA's Viking program. It was the first spacecraft to successfully land on Mars and perform its mission, and until May 19, 2010 held the record for the second longest Mars surface mission of 6 years and 116 days .- Mission :Following...
on July 25, 1976, a 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) long Cydonian mesa, situated at 40.75° north latitude
Latitude
In geography, the latitude of a location on the Earth is the angular distance of that location south or north of the Equator. The latitude is an angle, and is usually measured in degrees . The equator has a latitude of 0°, the North pole has a latitude of 90° north , and the South pole has a...
and 9.46° west longitude
Longitude
Longitude is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east-west position of a point on the Earth's surface. It is an angular measurement, usually expressed in degrees, minutes and seconds, and denoted by the Greek letter lambda ....
, had the appearance of a humanoid
Humanoid
A humanoid is something that has an appearance resembling a human being. The term first appeared in 1912 to refer to fossils which were morphologically similar to, but not identical with, those of the human skeleton. Although this usage was common in the sciences for much of the 20th century, it...
"Face on Mars". When the image was originally acquired, Viking chief scientist Gerry Soffen dismissed the "face" in image 35A72 as a "[trick] of light and shadow". However, a second image, 70A13, also shows the "Face", and was acquired 35 Viking orbits later at a different sun-angle from the 35A72 image. This latter discovery was made independently by Vincent DiPietro and Gregory Molenaar, two computer engineers at NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
's Goddard Space Flight Center
Goddard Space Flight Center
The Goddard Space Flight Center is a major NASA space research laboratory established on May 1, 1959 as NASA's first space flight center. GSFC employs approximately 10,000 civil servants and contractors, and is located approximately northeast of Washington, D.C. in Greenbelt, Maryland, USA. GSFC,...
. DiPietro and Molenaar discovered the two misfiled images, Viking frames 35A72 and 70A13, while searching through NASA archives.
Cydonia was first imaged in detail by the Viking 1
Viking 1
Viking 1 was the first of two spacecraft sent to Mars as part of NASA's Viking program. It was the first spacecraft to successfully land on Mars and perform its mission, and until May 19, 2010 held the record for the second longest Mars surface mission of 6 years and 116 days .- Mission :Following...
and Viking 2
Viking 2
The Viking 2 mission was part of the American Viking program to Mars, and consisted of an orbiter and a lander essentially identical to that of the Viking 1 mission. The Viking 2 lander operated on the surface for 1,281 Mars days and was turned off on 11 April 1980 when its batteries failed...
orbiters. Eighteen images of the Cydonia region were taken by the orbiters, of which seven have resolutions better than 250 m/pixel
Pixel
In digital imaging, a pixel, or pel, is a single point in a raster image, or the smallest addressable screen element in a display device; it is the smallest unit of picture that can be represented or controlled....
(820 ft/pixel). The other eleven images have resolutions worse than 550 m/pixel (1800 ft/pixel) and are virtually useless for studying surface features. Of the seven good images, the lighting and time at which two pairs of images were taken are so close as to reduce the number to five distinct images. The Mission to Mars: Viking Orbiter Images of Mars CD-ROM image numbers for these are: 35A72 (VO-1010), 70A13 (VO-1011), 561A25 (VO-1021), 673B56 & 673B54 (VO-1063), and 753A33 & 753A34 (VO-1028). Parts of the region were subsequently imaged at far higher resolution by the Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Global Surveyor
The Mars Global Surveyor was a US spacecraft developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and launched November 1996. It began the United States's return to Mars after a 10-year absence. It completed its primary mission in January 2001 and was in its third extended mission phase when, on 2...
, Mars Express
Mars Express
Mars Express is a space exploration mission being conducted by the European Space Agency . The Mars Express mission is exploring the planet Mars, and is the first planetary mission attempted by the agency. "Express" originally referred to the speed and efficiency with which the spacecraft was...
and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is a NASA multipurpose spacecraft designed to conduct reconnaissance and Exploration of Mars from orbit...
missions.
Later imagery
More than 20 years after the Viking 1 images were taken, a succession of spacecraft visited Mars and collected new data from the Cydonia region. These spacecraft have included NASA's Mars Global SurveyorMars Global Surveyor
The Mars Global Surveyor was a US spacecraft developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and launched November 1996. It began the United States's return to Mars after a 10-year absence. It completed its primary mission in January 2001 and was in its third extended mission phase when, on 2...
(1997–2006) and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is a NASA multipurpose spacecraft designed to conduct reconnaissance and Exploration of Mars from orbit...
(2006-), and the European Space Agency
European Space Agency
The European Space Agency , established in 1975, is an intergovernmental organisation dedicated to the exploration of space, currently with 18 member states...
's Mars Express
Mars Express
Mars Express is a space exploration mission being conducted by the European Space Agency . The Mars Express mission is exploring the planet Mars, and is the first planetary mission attempted by the agency. "Express" originally referred to the speed and efficiency with which the spacecraft was...
probe (2003-). In contrast to the relatively low resolution of the Viking images of Cydonia, these new platforms afford much improved resolution. For instance, the Mars Express images are at a resolution of 14 m/pixel (46 ft/pixel) or better. By combining data from the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on the Mars Express
Mars Express
Mars Express is a space exploration mission being conducted by the European Space Agency . The Mars Express mission is exploring the planet Mars, and is the first planetary mission attempted by the agency. "Express" originally referred to the speed and efficiency with which the spacecraft was...
probe and the Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) on board NASA's Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Global Surveyor
The Mars Global Surveyor was a US spacecraft developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and launched November 1996. It began the United States's return to Mars after a 10-year absence. It completed its primary mission in January 2001 and was in its third extended mission phase when, on 2...
it has been possible to create a 3D representation of the "Face on Mars".
When it was first imaged, and into the 21st century, the "Face" is near universally accepted to be an optical illusion
Optical illusion
An optical illusion is characterized by visually perceived images that differ from objective reality. The information gathered by the eye is processed in the brain to give a perception that does not tally with a physical measurement of the stimulus source...
, an example of pareidolia
Pareidolia
Pareidolia is a psychological phenomenon involving a vague and random stimulus being perceived as significant. Common examples include seeing images of animals or faces in clouds, the man in the moon or the Moon rabbit, and hearing hidden messages on records played in reverse...
. After analysis of the higher resolution Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Global Surveyor
The Mars Global Surveyor was a US spacecraft developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and launched November 1996. It began the United States's return to Mars after a 10-year absence. It completed its primary mission in January 2001 and was in its third extended mission phase when, on 2...
data NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
stated that "a detailed analysis of multiple images of this feature reveals a natural looking Martian hill whose illusory face-like appearance depends on the viewing angle and angle of illumination
Lighting
Lighting or illumination is the deliberate application of light to achieve some practical or aesthetic effect. Lighting includes the use of both artificial light sources such as lamps and light fixtures, as well as natural illumination by capturing daylight...
". Similar optical illusions can be found in the geology of Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
; examples include the Old Man of the Mountain
Old Man of the Mountain
The Old Man of the Mountain, also known as the Great Stone Face or the Profile, was a series of five granite cliff ledges on Cannon Mountain in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, USA that, when viewed from the north, appeared to be the jagged profile of a face. The rock formation was above...
, the Pedra da Gávea
Pedra da Gávea
Pedra da Gávea , is an impressive monolith rising 842 meters above sea level at the highest point, located in Floresta da Tijuca in Barra da Tijuca, Rio de Janeiro. It is the world's largest monolith on a coastline...
, the Old Man of Hoy
Old Man of Hoy
The Old Man of Hoy is a sea stack of red sandstone perched on a plinth of igneous basalt rock, close to Rackwick Bay on the west coast of the island of Hoy, in the Orkney Islands, Scotland. It is a distinctive landmark seen from the Thurso to Stromness ferry, MV Hamnavoe, and is a famous rock climb...
and the Badlands Guardian
Badlands Guardian
The Badlands Guardian is a geomorphological feature located near Medicine Hat in the south east corner of Alberta, Canada. Viewed from the air, the feature bears a strong resemblance to a human head wearing a full native American headdress, facing directly westward. Because of additional man-made...
.
Speculation
Close encounter
In ufology, a close encounter is an event in which a person witnesses an unidentified flying object. This terminology and the system of classification behind it was started by astronomer and UFO researcher J. Allen Hynek, and was first suggested in his 1972 book The UFO Experience: A Scientific...
, and the images were published in this context in 1977. Some commentators, most notably Richard C. Hoagland
Richard C. Hoagland
Richard Charles Hoagland, is an American author and a proponent of various conspiracy theories about NASA, lost alien civilizations on the Moon and on Mars and other related topics....
, believe the "Face" to be evidence of a long-lost Martian civilization
Life on Mars
Scientists have long speculated about the possibility of life on Mars owing to the planet's proximity and similarity to Earth. Fictional Martians have been a recurring feature of popular entertainment of the 20th and 21st centuries, but it remains an open question whether life currently exists on...
along with other features they believe are present, such as apparent pyramid
Pyramid
A pyramid is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge at a single point. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilateral, or any polygon shape, meaning that a pyramid has at least three triangular surfaces...
s, which they argue are part of a ruined city
Ruins
Ruins are the remains of human-made architecture: structures that were once complete, as time went by, have fallen into a state of partial or complete disrepair, due to lack of maintenance or deliberate acts of destruction...
.
While accepting the "face" as a subject for scientific study, astronomer Carl Sagan criticized much of the speculation concerning it in the chapter "The Man in the Moon and the Face on Mars" in his book The Demon-Haunted World
The Demon-Haunted World
The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark is a book by astrophysicist Carl Sagan, which was first published in 1995.The book is intended to explain the scientific method to laypeople, and to encourage people to learn critical or skeptical thinking...
. The "Face" is also a common topic among skeptics groups, who use it as an example of credulity
Credulity
Credulity is a state of willingness to believe in one or many people or things in the absence of reasonable proof or knowledge.Credulity is not simply belief in something that may be false. The subject of the belief may even be correct, but a credulous person will believe it without good...
. They point out that there are other faces on Mars, often much clearer, but their images do not elicit the same level of study. An example is the Galle Crater
Galle (Martian crater)
Galle is a crater on Mars. It is located on the eastern rim of the huge impact basin Argyre Planitia. It is named after the astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle....
, which can show a rendition of a smiley
Smiley
A smiley, smiley face, or happy face, is a stylized representation of a smiling human face, commonly occurring in popular culture. It is commonly represented as a yellow circle with two black dots representing eyes and a black arc representing the mouth...
, or a profile of Kermit the Frog
Kermit the Frog
Kermit the Frog is puppeteer Jim Henson's most famous Muppet creation, first introduced in 1955. He is the protagonist of many Muppet projects, most notably as the host of The Muppet Show, and has appeared in various sketches on Sesame Street, in commercials and in public service announcements over...
, or other celebrities. Discover
Discover (magazine)
Discover is an American science magazine that publishes articles about science for a general audience. The monthly magazine was launched in October 1980 by Time Inc. It was sold to Family Media, the owners of Health, in 1987. Walt Disney Company bought the magazine when Family Media went out of...
magazine's Skeptical Eye column ridiculed Hoagland's claims, asking if he believed the aliens were fans of Sesame Street
Sesame Street
Sesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
.
In popular culture
Aside from speculation concerning their artificial origins, Cydonia and the "Face on Mars" also appear frequently in popular culturePopular culture
Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...
, including feature film
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
s, television series, video games, comic books, and even popular music
Popular music
Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local...
. For example: Films featuring the structures include Mission to Mars
Mission to Mars
Mission to Mars is a 2000 science fiction film directed by Brian De Palma from an original screenplay written by Jim Thomas, John Thomas, and Graham Yost. The film's story details a fictional portrayal of a manned Mars exploration mission gone awry in the year 2020...
(2000); TV series include The X-Files
The X-Files
The X-Files is an American science fiction television series and a part of The X-Files franchise, created by screenwriter Chris Carter. The program originally aired from to . The show was a hit for the Fox network, and its characters and slogans became popular culture touchstones in the 1990s...
("Space
Space (The X-Files)
"Space" is the ninth episode of the first season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files. It premiered on the Fox network on November 12, 1993. It was written by series creator Chris Carter, directed by William Graham, and featured guest appearances by Ed Lauter and Susanna...
", 1993), Invader Zim
Invader Zim
Invader Zim is an American animated television series created by Jhonen Vasquez. It was produced by and subsequently aired on Nickelodeon. The series revolves around an extraterrestrial named Zim from the planet Irk, and his ongoing mission to conquer and destroy Earth...
("Battle of the Planets", 2002), Futurama
Futurama
Futurama is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening and David X. Cohen for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of a late 20th-century New York City pizza delivery boy, Philip J...
("Where The Buggalo Roam
Where the Buggalo Roam
"Where the Buggalo Roam" is the tenth episode in season three of the animated television series Futurama. It originally aired March 3, 2002. The title is a reference to the folk song "Home on the Range".- Plot :...
", 2002), Phineas and Ferb
Phineas and Ferb
Phineas and Ferb is an American animated television comedy series. Originally broadcast as a preview on August 17, 2007, on Disney Channel, the series follows Phineas Flynn and his English stepbrother Ferb Fletcher on summer vacation. Every day the boys embark on some grand new project, which...
("Unfair Science Fair", 2009); Video games include Zak McKracken (1988), X-COM: UFO Defense
X-COM: UFO Defense
UFO: Enemy Unknown is a critically acclaimed strategy video game created by Julian Gollop and published by MicroProse Software in 1993...
(1993); Comic books include Martian Manhunter
Martian Manhunter
The Martian Manhunter is a fictional character, a superhero that appears in publications published by DC Comics. Created by writer Joseph Samachson and artist Joe Certa, the character first appeared in Detective Comics #225...
(#1, 1998); and Music includes Telemetry of a Fallen Angel
Telemetry of a Fallen Angel
Telemetry of a Fallen Angel is an album by The Crüxshadows, and was their first release on CD. This album marks the beginning of "The Angel IV Cycle", a thread linking many of The Crüxshadows' songs together to weave a story.-Track listing:...
by The Crüxshadows
The Crüxshadows
The Crüxshadows is an Dark Electro group from Florida. Their sound is made up of a combination of male vocals, electric violin, guitar, and synth...
(1995), "Knights of Cydonia
Knights of Cydonia
"Knights of Cydonia" is a song by English alternative rock band Muse and is the closing track on the British release of their 2006 album Black Holes and Revelations. The song's title comes in part from the region of Mars named Cydonia, famous for the "face on mars"...
" by Muse
Muse (band)
Muse are an English alternative rock band from Teignmouth, Devon, formed in 1994. The band consists of school friends Matthew Bellamy , Christopher Wolstenholme and Dominic Howard...
(2006), "Hunting and Gathering (Cydonia)
Monoliths & Dimensions
Monoliths & Dimensions is the seventh studio album by the avant-garde drone doom band Sunn O))). The album was created and recorded over a period of two years and features the collaborations of composer Eyvind Kang, Australian guitar player Oren Ambarchi, Hungarian vocalist Attila Csihar, Dylan...
" by Sunn O)))
Sunn O)))
Sunn O))) is an American doom metal band known for its synthesis of diverse genres including drone, ambient, noise, and black metal. Supported by a varying cast of collaborators, the band has two core members: Stephen O'Malley and Greg Anderson .-History:Sunn O))) is named after the Sunn...
(2009). The Face was also profiled on Unsolved Mysteries
Unsolved Mysteries
Unsolved Mysteries is an American television program, hosted by Robert Stack, from 1987 until 2002, and later by Dennis Farina, starting in 2008...
.
See also
- Geography of Mars
- PareidoliaPareidoliaPareidolia is a psychological phenomenon involving a vague and random stimulus being perceived as significant. Common examples include seeing images of animals or faces in clouds, the man in the moon or the Moon rabbit, and hearing hidden messages on records played in reverse...
- GalleGalle (Martian crater)Galle is a crater on Mars. It is located on the eastern rim of the huge impact basin Argyre Planitia. It is named after the astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle....
, a Martian crater also known as the "Happy face" or "Smile" of Mars - Libya MontesLibya MontesThe Libya Montes are a ring of mountains on Mars up-lifted by the giant impact that created the Isidis basin to the north. During 1999, this region became one of the top two that were being considered for the now-canceled Mars Surveyor 2001 Lander. The Isidis basin is very, very ancient...
, home to another "face"
External links
NASA or ESA- ESA overview of features in Cydonia region
- Viking Project, NASA
- 30th Anniversary of Viking, NASA
- Mars Express, ESA (NASA page)
- Mars Global Surveyor, NASA
- Astronomy Picture of the Day 25-9-06, recent visual of the Face on Mars
- Astronomy Picture of the Day 26-9-06, recent visual of the Cydonia region (including the Face on Mars)
Non-Space Agency
- High-resolution images of Cydonia, Freie Universität Berlin - Mars Express orbiter data
- Discussion of MOC and "Face on Mars", Malin Space Science Systems (also, Face on Mars)
- Cydonia Mensae at Google MarsGoogle MarsGoogle Mars was at first an in-browser version of Google Maps which provides a visible imagery view, like Google Moon, as well as infrared imagery and shaded relief of the planet Mars. Users can toggle between the elevation, visible, and infrared data, in the same manner as switching between map,...
- Interactive 3D "Face on Mars", Shockwave piece at MarsQuest Online.
- http://www.geody.com/geolook.php?world=mars&lat=41.347994&lon=-9.238214The exact position of the Face on Mars on Geody, linked to NASA World WindNASA World WindWorld Wind is an open-source virtual globe developed by NASA and the open source community for use on personal computers. Old versions need Microsoft Windows but the more recent Java version, , is cross platform and provides a suite of . The World Wind Java version was awarded in November 2009...
]