Cydonia (Mars)#"Face on Mars"

Cydonia lies in the planet's northern hemisphere in a transitional zone between the heavily cratered regions to the south and relatively smooth plains to the north. Some planetologists believe that the northern plains may once have been ocean beds,{{cite journal |last1=Head III |first1=J.W. |last2=Kreslavsky |first2=M. |last3=Hiesinger |first3=H. |last4=Ivanov |first4=M. |last5=Pratt |first5=Stephen |last6=Seibert |first6=N. |last7=Smith |first7=D.E. |last8=Zuber |first8=M.T. |date=December 15, 1998 |title=Oceans in the past history of Mars: Tests for their presence using Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) data |journal=Geophysical Research Letters |volume=25 |issue=24 |pages=4401–4404 |bibcode=1998GeoRL..25.4401H |doi=10.1029/1998GL900116 |s2cid=9137761 }} and that Cydonia may once have been a coastal zone.{{cite journal |last1=Malin |first1=Michael C. |author-link1=Michael C. Malin |last2=Edgett |first2=Kenneth S. |date=October 1, 1999 |title=Oceans or seas in the Martian northern lowlands: High resolution imaging tests of proposed coastlines |journal=Geophysical Research Letters |volume=26 |pages=3049–3052 |bibcode=1999GeoRL..26.3049M |doi=10.1029/1999GL002342 |issue=19|citeseerx=10.1.1.601.7485 |s2cid=53411196 }} It is in the Mare Acidalium quadrangle.

File:Cydonia region, colour image ESA235868.jpg. "Face on Mars" is just below the center.]]

File:Martian face viking cropped.jpg).{{cite web | url=http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/pia01141 | title=PIA01141: Geologic 'Face on Mars' Formation | date=2 April 1998 | access-date=12 February 2011 | publisher=NASA}}]]

File:070A13.jpg

Cydonia was first imaged in detail by the Viking 1 and Viking 2 orbiters. Eighteen images of the Cydonia region were taken by the orbiters, of which seven have resolutions better than 250 m/pixel (820 ft/pixel). The other eleven images have resolutions that are worse than 550 m/pixel (1800 ft/pixel) and are of limited use 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 set image numbers for these are: 035A72 (VO-1010), 070A13 (VO-1011), 561A25 (VO-1021), 673B54 & 673B56 (VO-1063), and 753A33 & 753A34 (VO-1028).{{cite web |url=http://pds-imaging.jpl.nasa.gov/volumes/viking.html#vkoEDR |title=Mission to Mars: Viking Orbiter Images of Mars (Experiment Data Records) |work=PDS Imaging Node |publisher=NASA/JPL/USGS |access-date=April 19, 2013 }} Raw data in the IMQ (ImageQ) format can be downloaded from these links: [http://pdsimage.wr.usgs.gov/archive/vo1_vo2-m-vis-2-edr-v2.0/vo_1010/f035axx/f035a72.imq 035A72] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130801122138/http://pdsimage.wr.usgs.gov/archive/vo1_vo2-m-vis-2-edr-v2.0/vo_1010/f035axx/f035a72.imq |date=August 1, 2013 }}, [http://pdsimage.wr.usgs.gov/archive/vo1_vo2-m-vis-2-edr-v2.0/vo_1011/f070axx/f070a13.imq 070A13] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130801120554/http://pdsimage.wr.usgs.gov/archive/vo1_vo2-m-vis-2-edr-v2.0/vo_1011/f070axx/f070a13.imq |date=August 1, 2013 }}, [http://pdsimage.wr.usgs.gov/archive/vo1_vo2-m-vis-2-edr-v2.0/vo_1021/f561axx/f561a25.imq 561A25] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130801122026/http://pdsimage.wr.usgs.gov/archive/vo1_vo2-m-vis-2-edr-v2.0/vo_1021/f561axx/f561a25.imq |date=August 1, 2013 }}, [http://pdsimage.wr.usgs.gov/archive/vo1_vo2-m-vis-2-edr-v2.0/vo_1063/f673bxx/f673b54.imq 673B54] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130801121141/http://pdsimage.wr.usgs.gov/archive/vo1_vo2-m-vis-2-edr-v2.0/vo_1063/f673bxx/f673b54.imq |date=August 1, 2013 }}, [http://pdsimage.wr.usgs.gov/archive/vo1_vo2-m-vis-2-edr-v2.0/vo_1063/f673bxx/f673b56.imq 673B56] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130801121432/http://pdsimage.wr.usgs.gov/archive/vo1_vo2-m-vis-2-edr-v2.0/vo_1063/f673bxx/f673b56.imq |date=August 1, 2013 }}, [http://pdsimage.wr.usgs.gov/archive/vo1_vo2-m-vis-2-edr-v2.0/vo_1028/f753axx/f753a33.imq 753A33], [http://pdsimage.wr.usgs.gov/archive/vo1_vo2-m-vis-2-edr-v2.0/vo_1028/f753axx/f753a34.imq 753A34] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130801124757/http://pdsimage.wr.usgs.gov/archive/vo1_vo2-m-vis-2-edr-v2.0/vo_1028/f753axx/f753a34.imq |date=August 1, 2013 }}.{{cite AV media |people=JPL; NASA; Viking Mars Program (U.S.) |year=1990 |title=Mission to Mars: Viking Orbiter Images of Mars |medium=CD-ROM |publisher=JPL |location=Pasadena, CA |oclc=232381148}}

In one of the images taken by Viking 1 on July 25, 1976, a {{convert|2|km|mi|adj=mid|spell=in|-long}} Cydonian mesa, situated at 40.75° north latitude and 9.46° west longitude,{{Cite web |url=http://www.planetary.org/news/2007/0317_The_Empire_Strikes_Back_Europes_First.html |title=The Empire Strikes Back: Europe's First Trip to Mars Brings Home 'The Gold'|publisher=The Planetary Society |last=Rayl|first=A.J.S. |date=March 16, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120304214615/http://www.planetary.org/news/2007/0317_The_Empire_Strikes_Back_Europes_First.html |archive-date=March 4, 2012 |access-date=April 19, 2013}} had the appearance of a humanoid face. When the image was originally acquired, Viking chief scientist Gerald Soffen dismissed the "Face on Mars" in image 035A72{{Cite press release |title=Viking 1–61 (35A72) |work=Viking News Center|date=July 31, 1976 |publisher=NASA/JPL |location=Pasadena, CA |url=http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/cydonia2.html |access-date=April 19, 2013}} Caption of JPL Viking Press Release P-17384. as a "trick of light and shadow".{{cite book |last=Hoagland |first=Richard C. |author-link=Richard C. Hoagland |title=The Monuments of Mars: A City on the Edge of Forever |edition=4th |year=1996 |publisher=Frog, Ltd |location=Berkeley |page=5 |isbn=978-1-883319-30-4}}{{Cite web |url=http://www.paranormalnews.com/article.asp?articleID=21 |title=Pixel Inversion – NASA's Misinformation on the Mars Face |last=Paranormal News Staff |date=August 25, 1999 |work=Paranormal News |publisher=Jeff Behnke |access-date=May 29, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080612131844/http://www.paranormalnews.com/article.asp?articleID=21 |archive-date=June 12, 2008 }} A second image, 070A13, also shows the "face", and was acquired 35 Viking orbits later at a different sun-angle from the 035A72 image. This latter discovery was made independently by Vincent DiPietro and Gregory Molenaar, two computer engineers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. DiPietro and Molenaar discovered the two misfiled images, Viking frames 035A72 and 070A13, while searching through NASA archives.{{Cite journal|last=Gardner|first=Martin|date=Winter 1985–1986|title=The Great Stone Face and Other Nonmysteries|journal=Skeptical Inquirer|volume=10|issue=2|pages=14–18|url=https://skepticalinquirer.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/29/2015/03/p24.pdf|access-date=April 22, 2021}} The resolution of these images was of about 50 m/pixel.{{Cite web|url=http://viewer.mars.asu.edu/planetview/inst/viking/035A72#P=035A72&T=2|title=Viking: 035A72 |website=Mars Image Explorer |quote=Line Resolution 0.048049 km |access-date=3 July 2019}}

More than 20 years after the Viking 1 images were taken, a succession of spacecraft visited Mars and made new observations of the Cydonia region. These spacecraft have included NASA's Mars Global Surveyor (1997–2006) and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (2006–),{{Cite web|url=https://www.uahirise.org/PSP_003234_2210|title=Popular Landform in Cydonia Region|publisher=HiRISE website|access-date=April 22, 2021}} and the European Space Agency's Mars Express probe (2003–).{{Cite web|url=http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Mars_Express/Cydonia_-_the_face_on_Mars|title=Cydonia – the face on Mars|date=September 21, 2006|publisher=ESA|access-date=April 26, 2007}} 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 probe and the Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) on board NASA's Mars Global Surveyor it has been possible to create a three-dimensional representation of the "Face on Mars".{{Cite web|url=http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Mars_Express/Cydonia_s_Face_on_Mars_in_3D_animation|title=Cydonia's 'Face on Mars' in 3D animation|date=October 23, 2006|publisher=ESA|access-date=April 26, 2007}}

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| caption1 = Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image by its HiRISE camera of the "Face on Mars" (2007). Viking Orbiter image inset in bottom right corner (1976).

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| caption2 = Mars Global Surveyor image (MOC camera) of the same feature (2001).

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File:sheep2 small.jpg|access-date=December 1, 2008|date=April 5, 2000}}{{cite web |url=http://www.badarchaeology.com/extraterrestrials/alien-archaeology-on-mars/ |title=Alien archaeology on Mars?: The 'D&M Pyramid |last=Fitzpatrick-Matthews |first=Keith |date=August 17, 2007|work=Bad Archaeology |publisher=Keith Fitzpatrick-Matthews and James Doeser |access-date=December 1, 2008}}]]

Since it was originally first imaged, the face has been accepted by scientists as an optical illusion, an example of the psychological phenomenon of pareidolia.{{cite news |title=Scientist attacks alien claims on Mars |first=Robert Roy |last=Britt |url=http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/03/17/alien.debunk/index.html |agency=SPACE.com |work=CNN |date=March 18, 2004|access-date=October 12, 2007}}Normand Baillargeon, A Short Course in Intellectual Self Defense: Find Your Inner Chomsky, p. 177 (Seven Stories Press, 2007). {{ISBN|978-1-58322-765-7}}Charles M. Wynn, Arthur W. Wiggins, Quantum Leaps in the Wrong Direction: Where Real Science Ends... and Pseudoscience begins (Joseph Henry Press, 2001). {{ISBN|0-309-17135-0}}

After analysis of the higher resolution Mars Global Surveyor data NASA 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".{{Cite web|url=http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_60.html|title=The Face on Mars|work=Image of the Day Gallery|publisher=NASA|access-date=April 26, 2007|archive-date=July 19, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130719235001/http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_60.html|url-status=dead}} Similar optical illusions can be found in the geology of Earth;{{Skeptoid|id=4097|number=97|date=22 April 2008|title=The Face on Mars Revealed – New high resolution imagery has proven that this hill on Mars doesn't look quite so much like a carved face after all.}} examples include the Old Man of the Mountain, the Romanian Sphinx, Giewont, the Pedra da Gávea, the Old Man of Hoy, Stac Levenish, Sleeping Ute, and the Badlands Guardian.{{Cite web|url=https://maps.google.com/maps?z=16&ll=50.010083,-110.113006&spn=0.009363,0.020084&t=k&iwloc=addr|title=Badlands Guardian Geological Feature|publisher=Google Maps|access-date=April 26, 2007}} Rotating the 2001 Mars Global Surveyor photograph 180 degrees, one "face" skeptic has, with tongue in cheek, shown it to actually depict [https://gpposner.com/Marsface_upside-down.html two entirely different faces].

The Cydonia facial pareidolia inspired individuals and organizations interested in extraterrestrial intelligence and visitations to Earth, and the images were published in this context in 1977.{{Cite journal|last=Smukler|first=H.|title=Dramatic Photos of Mars: the Home of the Gods|journal=Ancient Astronauts|year=1977|issue=January|page=26}}{{Cite book|editor-first=Richard|editor-last=Grossinger|title=Planetary Mysteries: Megaliths, Glaciers, the Face on Mars and Aboriginal Dreamtime|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_hR3b8VXE0wC|access-date=August 12, 2008|year=1986|publisher=North Atlantic Books|location=Berkeley|isbn=978-0-938190-90-5|page=11}} Some commentators, most notably Richard C. Hoagland, believe the "Face on Mars" to be evidence of a long-lost Martian civilization along with other features they believe are present, such as apparent pyramids, which they argue are part of a ruined city.{{cite book | last=Hoagland | first=Richard | title=The Monuments of Mars: A City on the Edge of Forever | year=2002 | isbn=978-1-58394-054-9 | edition=5 | publisher=North Atlantic Books, U.S.}}

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 1995 book The Demon-Haunted World.{{cite book |last=Sagan |first=Carl |author-link=Carl Sagan |title=The Demon-Haunted World: Science As a Candle in the Dark |year=1995 |publisher=Random House |location=New York |isbn=978-0-394-53512-8|title-link=The Demon-Haunted World }}{{cite book |editor-first1=Stanley |editor-last2=Paxson |editor-first2=Monica Rix |title=The Case for the Face: Scientists Examine The Evidence for Alien Artifacts on Mars |edition=1st |year=1998 |publisher=Adventure Unlimited Press |isbn=978-0-932813-59-6 |editor-last=McDaniel |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780932813596 }} The shape-from-shading work by Mark J. Carlotto was used by Sagan in a chapter of his famous Cosmos series.{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khj0fVHwmaI| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211117/khj0fVHwmaI| archive-date=2021-11-17 | url-status=live|title=Carl Sagan and The Face on Mars| website=YouTube}}{{cbignore}} In 1998, a news article about the "Space Face" quoted a scientist talking about deciphering "intelligent design" in nature. A cutting of this was used by Charles Thaxton as an overhead visual for a lecture at Princeton, in his first public use of the term "intelligent design" as a substitute for creation science.{{cite book|first=Larry|last=Witham|title=Where Darwin Meets the Bible: Creationists and Evolutionists in America|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=llzwy_Ft1DQC&pg=PA221 221]|year=2005|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-518281-1}}

The "face" is also a common topic among skeptics groups, who use it as an example of credulity.{{cite journal |last=Posner |first=Gary P. |date=November–December 2000 |title=The Face Behind the 'Face' on Mars: A Skeptical Look at Richard C. Hoagland |url=http://www.gpposner.com/Hoagland.html |url-status=live |journal=Skeptical Inquirer |volume=24 |issue=6 |pages=20–26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250426054652/https://gpposner.com/Hoagland.html |archive-date=April 26, 2025 |access-date=April 28, 2013}} They point out that there are other faces on Mars but these do not elicit the same level of study. One example is the Galle Crater, which takes the form of a smiley, while others resemble Kermit the Frog or other celebrities.{{cite web |url=http://www.tampabayskeptics.org/Mars_morefaces.html |title=More 'Faces' on Mars |publisher=Tampa Bay Skeptics |access-date=April 20, 2013}} On this latter similarity, Discover magazine's "Skeptical Eye" column ridiculed Hoagland's claims, asking if he believed the aliens were fans of Sesame Street.{{cite journal |last=Golden |first=Fred |date=April 1985 |title=Skeptical Eye |journal=Discover}}

{{div col|colwidth=30em}}

• {{annotated link|Apophenia}}
• {{annotated link|Face on Moon South Pole}}
• {{annotated link|Geography of Mars}}
• {{annotated link|Libya Montes}}, home to another "face"
• {{annotated link|List of topics characterized as pseudoscience}}
• {{annotated link|Man in the Moon}}
• Mission to Mars, 2000 film in which the feature plays a role in the plot
• Space, an X-Files episode inspired by the "face"
• {{Div col end}}

{{Reflist}}

{{Commons category|Cydonia Mensae}}

;NASA or ESA

• [http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Mars_Express/Cydonia_-_the_face_on_Mars Cydonia – the face on Mars], ESA's overview of features in Cydonia region
• [http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/viking.html Viking Project Information], NASA
• [http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/viking/index.html Past Missions: Viking] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210228082633/http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/viking/index.html |date=February 28, 2021 }}, NASA
• [http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Mars_Express Mars Express], ESA
• [http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/express/ Mars Express: Home], NASA
• [http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/ Mars Global Surveyor], NASA
• [http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060925.html Astronomy Picture of the Day: 2006 September 25], "Mars Express Close-Up of the Face on Mars"
• [http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060926.html Astronomy Picture of the Day: 2006 September 26], "Mars Express: Return to Cydonia"

;Non-Space Agency

• [http://www.geoinf.fu-berlin.de/eng/projects/mars/hrsc300-Cydonia.php High-resolution images of Cydonia], Freie Universität Berlin – Mars Express orbiter data (orbit 3253)
• [http://www.msss.com/education/facepage/face_discussion.html Discussion of MOC and "Face on Mars"], Malin Space Science Systems (also, [http://www.msss.com/education/facepage/face.html The "Face on Mars"])
• [https://www.google.com/mars/#lat=40.757660&lon=-9.492187&zoom=9&map=visible&q=The%20Face%20on%20Mars "The Face on Mars"] at Google Mars
• [http://www.marsquestonline.org/coolstuff/faceonmars/faceonmars.html Interactive 3D "Face on Mars"], Shockwave Player at [http://www.marsquestonline.org MarsQuest Online].
• [http://www.geody.com/geolook.php?world=mars&lat=41.347994&lon=-9.238214 The exact position of the Face on Mars on Geody], provides link to NASA World Wind, among others
• [http://www.skepdic.com/faceonmars.html Face on Mars], entry in the Skeptic's Dictionary
• [http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/misc/hoagland/ Hoagland debunking at Bad Astronomy], a discussion of the science and pseudoscience of Cydonia
• Posner, Gary P. (November 2000). "[https://gpposner.com/Hoagland.html The Face Behind the "Face" on Mars: A Skeptical Look at Richard C. Hoagland]". [https://skepticalinquirer.org/volume/no-6-vol-24/ Skeptical Inquirer]. [https://web.archive.org/web/20250426054652/https://gpposner.com/Hoagland.html Archived] from the original on April 26, 2025.
• {{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_C4bFfATGY| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211117/v_C4bFfATGY| archive-date=2021-11-17 | url-status=live|title=Exposing PseudoAstronomy Vodcast: Episode 1 – The Cydonia Region of Mars Explored|last=Robbins|first=Stuart|date=May 31, 2014|publisher=Exposing PseudoAstronomy Vodcast}}{{cbignore}}
• {{cite web|url=http://podcast.sjrdesign.net/shownotes_111.php|title=Exposing PseudoAstronomy Podcast: Episode 111 – The Cydonia Region of Mars|last=Robbins|first=Stuart|date=May 31, 2014|publisher=Exposing PseudoAstronomy Podcast}}

{{Mars}}

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{{Coord|40.74|N|9.46|W|globe:mars|display=title}}

Category:Albedo features on Mars

Category:Mare Acidalium quadrangle