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{{Short description|Area of Mars}}{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2022}}File:Martian face viking.jpg|thumb|300 px|Small part of the Cydonia region, taken by the Viking 1 orbiter and released by NASA/JPL on July 25, 1976]]Cydonia ({{IPAc-en|s|ᵻ|ˈ|d|oʊ|n|i|ə|}}, {{IPAc-en|s|aɪ|ˈ|d|oʊ|n|i|ə}}) is a region on the planet Mars that has attracted both scientificJOURNAL, Carlotto, Mark J., May 15, 1988, Digital Imagery Analysis of Unusual Martian Surface Features, Applied Optics, 27, 10, 1926–1933, 0003-6935, 20531684, 1988ApOpt..27.1926C, 10.1364/AO.27.001926, April 19, 2013,weblink 10.1.1.331.2704, May 16, 2013,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20130516021009weblink">weblink dead, and popular interest.NEWS, Nasa: No face – honest, David, Whitehouse,weblink BBC News, London, May 25, 2001, November 9, 2007, NEWS, Face on Mars gets makeover, Robert Roy, Britt,weblink space.com, SPACE.com, CNN.com, September 22, 2006, November 9, 2007, The name originally referred to the albedo feature (distinctively coloured area) that was visible from earthbound telescopes. The area borders the plains of Acidalia Planitia and the highlands of Arabia Terra.WEB,weblink Cydonia – the face on Mars, September 21, 2006, European Space Agency, ESA, April 19, 2013, The region includes the named features Cydonia Mensae, an area of flat-topped mesa-like features; Cydonia Colles, a region of small hills or knobs; and Cydonia Labyrinthus, a complex of intersecting valleys.WEB,weblink Planetary Names: Mars, Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, Astrogeology Research Program, USGS Astrogeology Research Program, April 19, 2013, WEB,weblink Planetary Names: Feature Types, Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, USGS Astrogeology Research Program, April 19, 2013, As with other albedo features on Mars, the name Cydonia was drawn from classical antiquity, in this case from Kydonia (; ), a historic polis (city state) on the island of Crete.JOURNAL, MacDonald, T. L., October 1971, The origins of Martian nomenclature, Icarus (journal), Icarus, 15, 2, 233–240, 10.1016/0019-1035(71)90077-7, 1971Icar...15..233M, Cydonia contains the "Face on Mars", located about halfway between the craters Arandas and Bamberg.

Location

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,JOURNAL, Head III, J.W., Kreslavsky, M., Hiesinger, H., Ivanov, M., Pratt, Stephen, Seibert, N., Smith, D.E., Zuber, M.T., December 15, 1998, Oceans in the past history of Mars: Tests for their presence using Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) data, Geophysical Research Letters, 25, 24, 4401–4404, 1998GeoRL..25.4401H, 10.1029/1998GL900116, 9137761, and that Cydonia may once have been a coastal zone.JOURNAL, Malin, Michael C., Michael C. Malin, Edgett, Kenneth S., October 1, 1999, Oceans or seas in the Martian northern lowlands: High resolution imaging tests of proposed coastlines, Geophysical Research Letters, 26, 3049–3052, 1999GeoRL..26.3049M, 10.1029/1999GL002342, 19, 10.1.1.601.7485, 53411196, It is in the Mare Acidalium quadrangle.File:Cydonia region, colour image ESA235868.jpg|alt=Satellite picture of Cydonia|thumb|right|200px|Picture of the Cydonia region taken in 2006 by The European Space Agency's satellite Mars ExpressMars Express

"Face on Mars"

File:Martian face viking cropped.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Cropped version of the original batch-processed image (#035A72) of the "Face on Mars". The black dots that give the image a speckled appearance are data errors (salt-and-pepper noise).WEB,weblink PIA01141: Geologic 'Face on Mars' Formation, 2 April 1998, 12 February 2011, NASANASA(File:070A13.jpg|thumb|Second Viking 1 image of the Cydonia region on Mars. Labeled 070A13)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).WEB,weblink Mission to Mars: Viking Orbiter Images of Mars (Experiment Data Records), PDS Imaging Node, NASA/JPL/USGS, April 19, 2013, Raw data in the IMQ (ImageQ) format can be downloaded from these links: 035A72 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130801122138weblink |date=August 1, 2013 }}, 070A13 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130801120554weblink |date=August 1, 2013 }}, 561A25 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130801122026weblink |date=August 1, 2013 }}, 673B54 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130801121141weblink |date=August 1, 2013 }}, 673B56 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130801121432weblink |date=August 1, 2013 }}, 753A33, 753A34 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130801124757weblink |date=August 1, 2013 }}.AV MEDIA, JPL; NASA; Viking Mars Program (U.S.), 1990, Mission to Mars: Viking Orbiter Images of Mars, CD-ROM, JPL, Pasadena, CA, 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,WEB,weblink The Empire Strikes Back: Europe's First Trip to Mars Brings Home 'The Gold', The Planetary Society, Rayl, A.J.S., March 16, 2007,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20120304214615weblink">weblink March 4, 2012, April 19, 2013, had the appearance of a humanoid face. When the image was originally acquired, Viking chief scientist Gerry Soffen dismissed the "Face on Mars" in image 035A72PRESS RELEASE, Viking 1–61 (35A72), Viking News Center, July 31, 1976, NASA/JPL, Pasadena, CA,weblink April 19, 2013, Caption of JPL Viking Press Release P-17384. as a "trick of light and shadow".BOOK, Hoagland, Richard C., Richard C. Hoagland, The Monuments of Mars: A City on the Edge of Forever, 4th, 1996, North Atlantic Books, Frog, Ltd, Berkeley, 5, 978-1-883319-30-4, WEB,weblink Pixel Inversion – NASA's Misinformation on the Mars Face, Paranormal News Staff, August 25, 1999, Paranormal News, Jeff Behnke, May 29, 2008, dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20080612131844weblink">weblink 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.JOURNAL, Gardner, Martin, Winter 1985–1986, The Great Stone Face and Other Nonmysteries, Skeptical Inquirer, 10, 2, 14–18,weblink April 22, 2021, The resolution of these images was of about 50 m/pixel.WEB,weblink Viking: 035A72, Mars Image Explorer, Line Resolution 0.048049 km, 3 July 2019,

Later imagery

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–),WEB,weblink Popular Landform in Cydonia Region, HiRISE website, April 22, 2021, and the European Space Agency's Mars Express probe (2003–).WEB,weblink Cydonia – the face on Mars, September 21, 2006, ESA, 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".WEB,weblink Cydonia's 'Face on Mars' in 3D animation, October 23, 2006, ESA, April 26, 2007, {{multiple image| align = center| image1 = Face on Mars with Inset.jpg| width1 = {{#expr: (300 * (1700 / 1200)) round 0}}| alt1 =| caption1 = Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image by its HiRISE camera of the "Face on Mars" (2007). Viking Orbiter image inset in bottom right corner (1976).| image2 = Mars face.png| width2 = {{#expr: (340 * (400 / 453)) round 0}}| alt2 =| caption2 = Mars Global Surveyor image (MOC camera) of the same feature (2001).| footer =}}File:sheep2 small.jpg|thumb|right|200px|One of many formations in Cydonia, this one is sometimes called the "D & M pyramid".WEB,weblink Cydonia: Two Years Later, (Malin Space Science Systems]], December 1, 2008, April 5, 2000, WEB,weblink Alien archaeology on Mars?: The 'D&M Pyramid, Fitzpatrick-Matthews, Keith, August 17, 2007, Bad Archaeology, Keith Fitzpatrick-Matthews and James Doeser, 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.NEWS, Scientist attacks alien claims on Mars, Robert Roy, Britt,weblink SPACE.com, CNN, March 18, 2004, 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".WEB,weblink The Face on Mars, Image of the Day Gallery, NASA, April 26, 2007, July 19, 2013,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20130719235001weblink">weblink 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.WEB,weblink Badlands Guardian Geological Feature, Google Maps, April 26, 2007,

Speculation

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.JOURNAL, Smukler, H., Dramatic Photos of Mars: the Home of the Gods, Ancient Astronauts, 1977, January, 26, BOOK, Richard, Grossinger, Planetary Mysteries: Megaliths, Glaciers, the Face on Mars and Aboriginal Dreamtime,weblink August 12, 2008, 1986, North Atlantic Books, Berkeley, 978-0-938190-90-5, 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.BOOK, Hoagland, Richard, The Monuments of Mars: A City on the Edge of Forever, 2002, 978-1-58394-054-9, 5, 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.BOOK, Sagan, Carl, Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science As a Candle in the Dark, 1995, Random House, New York, 978-0-394-53512-8, The Demon-Haunted World, BOOK, Stanley, Paxson, Monica Rix, The Case for the Face: Scientists Examine The Evidence for Alien Artifacts on Mars, 1st, 1998, David Hatcher Childress, Adventure Unlimited Press, 978-0-932813-59-6, McDaniel, registration,weblink The shape-from-shading work by Mark J. Carlotto was used by Sagan in a chapter of his famous (Cosmos: A Personal Voyage|Cosmos) series.WEB,weblinkweblink 2021-11-17, live, Carl Sagan and The Face on Mars, 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.BOOK, Larry, Witham, Where Darwin Meets the Bible: Creationists and Evolutionists in America, 221, 2005, Oxford University Press, 978-0-19-518281-1, The "face" is also a common topic among skeptics groups, who use it as an example of credulity.JOURNAL, Posner, Gary P., November–December 2000, The Face Behind the 'Face' on Mars: A Skeptical Look at Richard C. Hoagland,weblink live, Skeptical Inquirer, 24, 6, 20–26,weblink November 6, 2023, 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.WEB,weblink More 'Faces' on Mars, Tampa Bay Skeptics, 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.JOURNAL, Golden, Fred, April 1985, Skeptical Eye, Discover (magazine), Discover,

Interactive Mars map

{{Mars map}}

See also

{{div col|colwidth=30em}}

• {{annotated link|Apophenia}}
• {{annotated link|Face on Moon South Pole}}
• {{annotated link|Geography of Mars}}
• {{annotated link|HiRISE}}
• {{annotated link|Libya Montes}}, home to another "face"
• {{annotated link|List of topics characterized as pseudoscience}}
• {{annotated link|Man in the Moon}}

{{Div col end}}

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

{{Commons category|Cydonia Mensae}}

NASA or ESA

• Cydonia – the face on Mars, ESA's overview of features in Cydonia region
• Viking Project Information, NASA
• Past Missions: Viking {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210228082633weblink |date=February 28, 2021 }}, NASA
• Mars Express, ESA
• Mars Express: Home, NASA
• Mars Global Surveyor, NASA
• Astronomy Picture of the Day: 2006 September 25, "Mars Express Close-Up of the Face on Mars"
• Astronomy Picture of the Day: 2006 September 26, "Mars Express: Return to Cydonia"

Non-Space Agency

• High-resolution images of Cydonia, Freie Universität Berlin – Mars Express orbiter data (orbit 3253)
• Discussion of MOC and "Face on Mars", Malin Space Science Systems (also, The "Face on Mars")
• "The Face on Mars" at Google Mars
• Interactive 3D "Face on Mars", Shockwave Player at MarsQuest Online.
• The exact position of the Face on Mars on Geody, provides link to NASA World Wind, among others
• Face on Mars, entry in the Skeptic's Dictionary
• Hoagland debunking at Bad Astronomy, a discussion of the science and pseudoscience of Cydonia
• Posner, Gary P. (November 2000). "The Face Behind the "Face" on Mars: A Skeptical Look at Richard C. Hoagland". Skeptical Inquirer. weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20231106053508weblink">Archived from the original on November 6, 2023.
• WEB,weblinkweblink 2021-11-17, live, Exposing PseudoAstronomy Vodcast: Episode 1 – The Cydonia Region of Mars Explored, Robbins, Stuart, May 31, 2014, Exposing PseudoAstronomy Vodcast, {{cbignore}}
• WEB,weblink Exposing PseudoAstronomy Podcast: Episode 111 – The Cydonia Region of Mars, Robbins, Stuart, May 31, 2014, Exposing PseudoAstronomy Podcast,

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

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