Face and Nearby Objects on Mars

The Face on Mars is a rock formation on the surface of Mars resembling an
enormous humanoid face staring straight up into space. It is about 2.5 km
long x 2.0 km wide x 0.4 km tall and is located on a flat plain known as
Cydonia Mensae in Mars' northern hemisphere (41 deg. N latitude 9.5 deg.
longitude). The Face and other objects described on this page were imaged by
one of the Viking Orbiters in the summer of 1976.



The Face was dismissed by scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory as a
trick of light and shadow and forgotten. The original image (Viking orbiter
frame 35A72) was rediscovered by Vincent DiPietro and Gregory Molenaar, two
engineers at the Goddard Spaceflight Center, several years later. They also
found a second image (70A13) containing the Face under slightly different
illumination with the sun about 20 deg. higher in the sky.


                                City and Face

The Face is not an isolated formation. As shown in the picture below from
35A72, about 20 kilometers west-southwest of the Face are several other
unusual objects (dubbed the City by author Richard Hoagland). Where the Face
is a rounded formation (geologists would call it a mesa or knob) the City
contains an assortment of pyramidal objects with sharp angular sides.



                                  Fortress

Perhaps the most unusual object within the City is a pyramidal object (the
Fortress) that appears to have been stripped down almost to its base
revealing an enclosed inner space. The perspective view (above right) was
generated from the overhead view (above left) using a single image
shape-from-shading algorithm. Fine scale detail in the restored imagery
includes a regular pattern of indentations along the lower wall of the
structure and linear features on the terrain to the right.



                                 DM Pyramid

About 20 kilometers south-southwest of the Face is a larger pyramidal
structure first noticed by DiPietro and Molenaar. The D&M pyramid appears to
have five sides. One of the sides is shadowed and two of the sides appear to
be degraded. The south face appears to be oriented almost exactly due south.