# Man (or alien?) made structure on Mars? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 7, 2011, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-or-alien-made-structure-on-mars/584578 "2011-06-07T01:53:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-or-alien-made-structure-on-mars/584578/1 "2011-06-07T01:53:41Z")
Some guy using Google Mars (what?) claims to have discovered a structure on Mars. Story and video [here](http://www.buzzfeed.com/burnred/armchair-astronaut-discovers-mars-space-stati-281t). I would need a lot clearer picture before getting concerned. What do you think? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-or-alien-made-structure-on-mars/584578/2 "2011-06-07T02:00:22Z")
I agree, that blur looks manmade. :rolleyes: What a maroon. Not you **Oslo** , the “astronomer”. ---
**Author:** ![Cryptic\_C62](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Cryptic\_C62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cryptic_C62)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-or-alien-made-structure-on-mars/584578/3 "2011-06-07T02:02:21Z")
I love that one of the tags is “armchair astronaut discovers mar”. I never knew that Mars was plural! ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-or-alien-made-structure-on-mars/584578/4 "2011-06-07T02:38:35Z")
There are several man-made structures on Mars. This is the final view from one of them. > **[APOD: 2011 May 30 - The Last Panorama of the Spirit Rover on Mars](https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110530.html)** > > A different astronomy and space science > related image is featured each day, along with a brief explanation. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-or-alien-made-structure-on-mars/584578/5 "2011-06-07T02:50:01Z")
Richard Hoagland has claimed that there are non-geological alien structures on Mars and the Moon, including a glass dome, towers, bridges and pyramids, for many moons (heh). Although all of these “objects” are of vastly different sizes, they share one characteristic. Each is just slightly beyond the resolution necessary to verify they are what Hoagland says they are. We must substitute his imagination for reality. And in the few cases where sharper, higher-resolution pix become available, such as the “face” on Mars, they show…nothing but natural features. That doesn’t prevent the conspiracy nuts from claiming that NASA is covering something up. ---
**Author:** ![Full\_Metal\_Lotus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/df705f/32.png) [@Full\_Metal\_Lotus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Full_Metal_Lotus)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-or-alien-made-structure-on-mars/584578/6 "2011-06-07T02:51:21Z")
Pretty obviously a trailer park. I am certain I saw a pixelated little alien with a saucer up on blocks and a six pack of beer, its kinda blurry, but if you squinch up your eyes just right, its pretty easy to see. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-or-alien-made-structure-on-mars/584578/7 "2011-06-07T03:11:46Z")
If I can dare to be serious for a second, I would guess that it’s some sort of photographic anomaly? I believe you can find such things on Google Earth quite easily. ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-or-alien-made-structure-on-mars/584578/8 "2011-06-07T04:48:20Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > Richard Hoagland has claimed that there are non-geological alien structures on Mars and the Moon, including a glass dome, towers, bridges and pyramids, for many moons (heh). > > Although all of these “objects” are of vastly different sizes, they share one characteristic. Each is just slightly beyond the resolution necessary to verify they are what Hoagland says they are. We must substitute his imagination for reality. > > And in the few cases where sharper, higher-resolution pix become available, such as the “face” on Mars, they show…nothing but natural features. That doesn’t prevent the conspiracy nuts from claiming that NASA is covering something up. I have seen Hoagland on TV and heard him on the radio a few times. It wouldn’t surprise me if he claimed that the moon is a big ball of alien-made green cheese. I agree that it is completely implausible that we built something on Mars that nobody knows about. I just admire the guy’s earnestness. ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-or-alien-made-structure-on-mars/584578/9 "2011-06-07T04:55:17Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > If I can dare to be serious for a second, I would guess that it’s some sort of photographic anomaly? I believe you can find such things on Google Earth quite easily. Sounds good - I don’t know enough about Google Earth to speculate, and I had never heard of Google Mars. Maybe some pixels or blocks of pixels didn’t make it from orbiting camera to earth intact, and show up as white blocks? ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-or-alien-made-structure-on-mars/584578/10 "2011-06-07T05:07:01Z")
Higher resolution images reveal this [creature](http://www.autothing.com/images/Fun%20Things/Articles/Limos%20Stars/Mars-Rover.jpg) which has apparently commandeered one of NASA’s rovers. It is strongly advised against making him angry. ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-or-alien-made-structure-on-mars/584578/11 "2011-06-07T05:25:19Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Higher resolution images reveal this [creature](http://www.autothing.com/images/Fun%20Things/Articles/Limos%20Stars/Mars-Rover.jpg) which has apparently commandeered one of NASA’s rovers. It is strongly advised against making him angry. Nice. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-or-alien-made-structure-on-mars/584578/12 "2011-06-07T05:37:07Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Higher resolution images reveal this [creature](http://www.autothing.com/images/Fun%20Things/Articles/Limos%20Stars/Mars-Rover.jpg) which has apparently commandeered one of NASA’s rovers. It is strongly advised against making him angry. That’s the biggest crime of Opportunity that I have ever seen… 🙂 As for the armchair astronomer, **Seethruart** , is that you? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-or-alien-made-structure-on-mars/584578/13 "2011-06-07T05:59:01Z")
Nothing like a couple of blurry pixels to get a conspiracy going. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-or-alien-made-structure-on-mars/584578/14 "2011-06-07T10:39:43Z")
> [@Full\_Metal\_Lotus](#): > > Pretty obviously a trailer park. I am certain I saw a pixelated little alien with a saucer up on blocks and a six pack of beer, its kinda blurry, but if you squinch up your eyes just right, its pretty easy to see. [Captured on video!](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dQrbpgHaU0) And apparently, they can shape-shift. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-or-alien-made-structure-on-mars/584578/15 "2011-06-07T11:44:11Z")
> [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](#): > > Maybe some pixels or blocks of pixels didn’t make it from orbiting camera to earth intact, and show up as white blocks? It’s entirely possible that the “object” is a photographic fault, but it appears to be blurry, so if it is dropped pixels, it would have to have happened before further processing. And if there is processing, all sorts of stuff can creep in to muddy the waters. Or else it’s a Mars zit. Just wait until they find a “C” rock. ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-or-alien-made-structure-on-mars/584578/16 "2011-06-07T12:47:33Z")
“Bio Station Alpha”. Sounds like where Dr. Evil re-located after abandoning Moon Unit Zappa. ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-or-alien-made-structure-on-mars/584578/17 "2011-06-07T12:58:50Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > Although all of these “objects” are of vastly different sizes, they share one characteristic. Each is just slightly beyond the resolution necessary to verify they are what Hoagland says they are. We must substitute his imagination for reality. There is a long history of people squinting at Mars and writing down whatever pops into their head. In 1976 we had the [Mar’s face](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_face#.22Face_on_Mars.22_and_.22pyramids.22) in pictures from the Viking 1 orbiter. It really does look like a face in the low resolution picture, but a more detailed shot shows it’s just a trick of the lighting. The human brain is good at finding patterns in images. I’ve seen faces in random textures before, such as woodchip wallpaper. Going back to the 19th century, some astronomers thought they were seeing [Martian canals](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_canals). I can clearly see that the link in the OP isn’t a space station, it’s a giant live-action game of tetris in progress. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-or-alien-made-structure-on-mars/584578/18 "2011-06-07T13:24:55Z")
> [@Cryptic\_C62](#): > > I love that one of the tags is “armchair astronaut discovers mar”. I never knew that Mars was plural! Maybe he was switching from Milky Way and wasn’t sure if he’d like them? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![oton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/41988e/32.png) [@oton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oton)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-or-alien-made-structure-on-mars/584578/19 "2011-07-16T10:25:43Z")
I, as a kid born in 1953, was always interested in astronomy. Born in Cleveland and raised in the south, then in 1960 I moved to California. The canals on Mars had always been visible to many through small telescopes and sometime even with the naked eye. This feature was not imaginary or mass histeria. It was a fact. Evidently there have been changes to the Mars surface, Whether, meterological or geographical. However, the fact remains that the canals did exist. I remember seeing them personally. Efforts to say that there are no canals "now"may be totally true. But I gaurantee you that there were canals in the past. Just think for a moment. Why would anyone just pick Mars, out of all the planets, to have “canals” on it ??? If it was a Fad or something, they could have said canals were on the Moon !!! ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-or-alien-made-structure-on-mars/584578/20 "2011-07-16T10:52:41Z")
> [@oton](#): > > The canals on Mars had always been visible to many through small telescopes and sometime even with the naked eye. This feature was not imaginary or mass histeria. It was a fact. Quick! Someone alert NASA about this! One of their rovers might fall into a canal and drown! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-or-alien-made-structure-on-mars/584578.md?page=2)