The inspiration to write about the topic came from a series of recent “art” images taken with the THEMIS camera on board the Mars Odyssey spacecraft. Here are 10 examples of imaginary faces and creatures on Mars. Information equals identity, lack of detail opens the door to anything we might imagine. Then there’s the so-called “ Bigfoot on Mars,” (an extremely very tiny Bigfoot) and later someone zoomed in on a small rock and said there was a gorilla on Mars. Later photos taken at much lower altitude with higher resolution cameras made the face disappear in its place we clearly see an eroded mesa. Our brains are more than happy to fill in fictional details. Since pareidolia works best when the stimulus is vague or the object unclear the “face” was perfect. Who doesn’t remember all the hubbub over the “Face of Mars”? Old Viking spacecraft images from the mid-1970s taken at low resolution in slanted lighting seemed to show a face carved of rock staring back at Earth. To narrow the scope, I’ve selected images taken of Mars, the most fertile planet for imaginary faces around. Pareidolia also works its magic across the cosmos. The infamous Mars Face (left) photographed in comparatively low resolution by the Viking orbiter in 1976 and a much higher resolution view made by current Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The ability to distinguish a particular plant or animal against the background noise meant the difference between a full belly or starvation. Pattern recognition also helped us find food back in the days of hunting and gathering. Face-recognition is critical because we ultimately need each other for survival not to mention keeping track of the kids in the grocery store. “Those infants who a million years ago were unable to recognize a face smiled back less, were less likely to win the hearts of their parents, and less likely to prosper.” If the scientists believe there was an ancient civilization on Mars, they must learn the significance of the face and the pyramids, Churchman said.“As soon as the infant can see, it recognizes faces, and we now know that this skill is hardwired in our brains,” wrote Sagan. It bears a resemblance to the Egyptian sphinx, but looks more like an ape, he said. The face - a mile long and three-quarters of a mile wide - appears to be looking toward the stars, Hoagland said. But the fact that these (pyramids) are lined up in a certain way with the face makes me inclined to believe that there was (an ancient civilization).″ The two Viking photographs were taken at different times of day, reducing the chance that the figures were illusions cast by tricky shadows, Hoagland said. ″If it had just been the face, I would not have been that convinced. ″It’s hard to believe that all that symmetry could have been done by winds and sand as we know it on Earth,″ he said in a telephone interview from Philadelphia. West Churchman, a professor at the University of California at Berkeley and the group’s principal investigator, said there are too many details pointing to the possibility of an extinct Martian race. Larry King, a NASA spokesman in Mountain View, Calif., said he doubts the previous existence of life on Mars and likened the face to ″the man on the moon.″īut Dr. National Aeronautics and Space Administration officials and other skeptics contend the figures were accidentally formed by natural elements or by the play of light and shadow. ″Geometrically, the face could be seen in profile (from the pyramids) as the summer solstice sun rose over it″ an estimated 500,000 years ago, he said in a telephone interview from Berkeley. The photos show what appear to be four huge pyramids lined up symmetrically with the face about six miles away, suggesting a parallel with Stonehenge, the ancient monument of huge stones in England, Hoagland said. The 30 scientists, known as the Mars Investigation Group, believe two photographs sent back from Mars in 1976 by the Viking spacecraft indicate the existence of an ancient civilization, Richard Hoagland, group member and science writer, said Thursday. SAN FRANCISCO (AP) _ A mile-long monkey’s face silently stares at the stars from its perch on Mars, according to a group of scientists who believe the strange profile was left as a cosmic calling card hundreds of thousands of years ago.
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