# That Famous "Face on Mars"
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-famous-face-on-mars/418713
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [September 10, 2007, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-famous-face-on-mars/418713 "2007-09-10T22:26:12Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2007, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-famous-face-on-mars/418713/1 "2007-09-10T22:26:12Z")
I saw the Sierra Nevada Mts for the first time, and in the wrinkles and folds of these barren hills you can see faces and anything else you wish much like cloud watching. So, in light of this PLUS the fact it is impossible to judge the real 3D of an object from a 2D photo…was NASA and/or space enthusists simply stupid to assume the “face on Mars” was some kind of unnatural, alien formation? I recall this being kicked around quite a bit in the late 1970s as if it were proof of intellegent life, but what intellegent life on earth jumped to that conclusion???
What’s the SD on how this formation could cause such a stir?
- Jinx
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### Author:  [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2007, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-famous-face-on-mars/418713/2 "2007-09-10T22:29:07Z")
The original low-res photo **DID** look like a face. But, human brains have “face detectors” in them, so lots of things look like faces. NASA took some high-res photos of the same spot from a slightly different angle, and it looks nothing like a face in those photos. I’ll try to find a link.
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### Author:  [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2007, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-famous-face-on-mars/418713/3 "2007-09-10T22:30:12Z")
Here ya’ go: [http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2001/ast24may\_1.htm](http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2001/ast24may_1.htm)
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### Author:  [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2007, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-famous-face-on-mars/418713/4 "2007-09-10T22:37:29Z")
[QUOTE=Jinx]
I saw the Sierra Nevada Mts for the first time, and in the wrinkles and folds of these barren hills you can see faces and anything else you wish much like cloud watching. So, in light of this PLUS the fact it is impossible to judge the real 3D of an object from a 2D photo…was NASA and/or space enthusists simply stupid to assume the “face on Mars” was some kind of unnatural, alien formation? I recall this being kicked around quite a bit in the late 1970s as if it were proof of intellegent life, but what intellegent life on earth jumped to that conclusion???
What’s the SD on how this formation could cause such a stir?
- Jinx
[/QUOTE]
What’s the question? How can people get excited over seeing what’s essentially a face in the clouds? Or who first identified it as a face? The former question seems more GD/deep philosophy (spotted any Virgin Mary-shaped formations lately?). The latter answer:
> **[CNN.com - Face on Mars gets makeover - Sep 22, 2006](https://edition.cnn.com/2006/TECH/space/09/22/mars.face/index.html)**
>
> NASA started it all back in 1976 with an image of an interesting mountain on Mars and a caption that described it as appearing to have eyes and nostrils.
> [@](#):
>
> The massif that became the infamous “Face” was first seen in a photo taken on July 25, 1976 by NASA’s Viking 1 Orbiter.
>
> **NASA scientists thought it looked like a human head** , and although they knew it was just an illusion, **the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory issued this caption:**
>
> “The speckled appearance of the image is due to missing data, called bit errors, caused by problems in transmission of the photographic data from Mars to Earth. Bit errors comprise part of one of the ‘eyes’ and ‘nostrils’ on the eroded rock that resembles a human face near the center of the image. Shadows in the rock formation give the illusion of a nose and mouth. Planetary geologists attribute the origin of the formation to purely natural processes.”
The article also offers a (mostly unsupported) hypothesis to answer the former question:
> [@](#):
>
> …Last year, a study helped explain why:
>
> People see faces that aren’t there – on Mars or in clouds – because we have “over-learned” to recognize the human face.
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### Author:  [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2007, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-famous-face-on-mars/418713/5 "2007-09-10T22:39:24Z")
I learned of the “face detectors” in the human brain over 25 years ago…
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### Author:  [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2007, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-famous-face-on-mars/418713/6 "2007-09-10T22:43:56Z")
[Here’s](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mmarsface.html) a staff report on the face.
Even under full resolution the thing still looks bizarre. Not a face, but still odd.
The general vacinity around that feature would make a great place to land a manned mission, but wouldn’t that give nut jobs extra conspiracy ammo?
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### Author:  [@Tenebras](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tenebras)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2007, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-famous-face-on-mars/418713/7 "2007-09-10T22:52:49Z")
The way you posed your question makes it sound like you think that the NASA people were the one’s saying “there’s a face on Mars!” As you see in **toadspittle** ’s quote, the folks in the know basically reacted by saying “Hey, that’s cool. It looks like a face. Hey Jim, did I tell you about the clouds I saw on the way to work this morning that looked like boobs?” It was the crazy mind-so-open-the-brains-fell-out crowd that insisted (and still insist) that Martians love us so much they carve their mountains into our likeness.
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### Author:  [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2007, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-famous-face-on-mars/418713/8 "2007-09-10T22:54:17Z")
Well, it’s better than the other side of the planet - the ass of Mars.
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### Author:  [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2007, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-famous-face-on-mars/418713/9 "2007-09-10T23:08:36Z")
Why would NASA even bother making any attempt to cover up evidence of an alien civilization in the first place? :dubious: If it were true they’d never have to worry about funding again.
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### Author:  [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2007, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-famous-face-on-mars/418713/10 "2007-09-10T23:12:31Z")
[QUOTE=Bryan Ekers]
Well, it’s better than the other side of the planet - the ass of Mars.
[/QUOTE]
Actually, Valles Marineris is only a little bit southwest of the face.
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### Author:  [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2007, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-famous-face-on-mars/418713/11 "2007-09-10T23:13:38Z")
As I recall, this thing was very popular-books, TV movies, TV shows about the “FACE ON MARS” were going on all the time. What a pity it wasn’t true! But what about the Jesus, Mary pictures that people see in dirty windows, burnt tortillas, etc.?
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### Author:  [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2007, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-famous-face-on-mars/418713/12 "2007-09-10T23:16:31Z")
[QUOTE=ralph124c]
What a pity it wasn’t true! But what about the Jesus, Mary pictures that people see in dirty windows, burnt tortillas, etc.?
[/QUOTE]
Oh, those are all true…
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### Author:  [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2007, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-famous-face-on-mars/418713/13 "2007-09-10T23:25:50Z")
[QUOTE=alphaboi867]
Why would NASA even bother making any attempt to cover up evidence of an alien civilization in the first place? :dubious: If it were true they’d never have to worry about funding again.
[/QUOTE]
I know, that’s what kills me about this. NASA scientists covering up evidence of life on Mars? Are they fucking high? That would be like the tabloids covering up naked pictures of Brittney Spears.
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### Author:  [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2007, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-famous-face-on-mars/418713/14 "2007-09-11T01:37:45Z")
As has been noted, we see faces everywhere. We see them in clouds, mud spatters on a fence, jelly rolls, you name it.
In fact, if you are in the right place here, Abe Lincoln’s profile as it is on the penny appears on the crest of the Sierra Nevada 15 miles west.
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### Author:  [@Omphaloskeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omphaloskeptic)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2007, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-famous-face-on-mars/418713/15 "2007-09-11T01:58:40Z")
[QUOTE=garygnu]
[QUOTE=Bryan Ekers]
Well, it’s better than the other side of the planet - the ass of Mars.
[/QUOTE]
Actually, Valles Marineris is only a little bit southwest of the face.
[/QUOTE]
Maybe he’s talking about [this](http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070528.html) (Astronomy Picture of the day, titled “A-Hole in Mars”… well, almost). Although I guess that’s not far from Valles Marineris either.
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### Author:  [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2007, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-famous-face-on-mars/418713/16 "2007-09-11T02:40:55Z")
They already filled in the canals, so the face is next to go right? :dubious:
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### Author:  [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2007, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-famous-face-on-mars/418713/17 "2007-09-11T08:38:10Z")
Just a minute, didn’t Gary Sinise & Co find the face in the film _Mission to Mars"_
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### Author:  [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2007, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-famous-face-on-mars/418713/18 "2007-09-11T12:12:27Z")
[QUOTE=Lemur866]
I know, that’s what kills me about this. NASA scientists covering up evidence of life on Mars? Are they fucking high? That would be like the tabloids covering up naked pictures of Brittney Spears.
[/QUOTE]
Yeah, that’s what they _want_ you to think. If you really want your mind blown, check into why we had to fake the Moon landings instead of just going there with the flying saucer technology we got from Roswell. Remember – your mind will be blown.
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### Author:  [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2007, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-famous-face-on-mars/418713/19 "2007-09-11T12:46:19Z")
There are more convincingly freaky ‘faces’ [found on Earth](http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=50%C2%B0+0%2738.20%22N+110%C2%B0+6%2748.32%22W&ie=UTF8&z=17&ll=50.010538,-110.113585&spn=0.004895,0.009978&t=h&om=1) than the one that was seen on Mars.
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### Author:  [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2007, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-famous-face-on-mars/418713/20 "2007-09-11T14:18:08Z")
[QUOTE=GuanoLad]
There are more convincingly freaky ‘faces’ [found on Earth](http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=50%C2%B0+0%2738.20%22N+110%C2%B0+6%2748.32%22W&ie=UTF8&z=17&ll=50.010538,-110.113585&spn=0.004895,0.009978&t=h&om=1) than the one that was seen on Mars.
[/QUOTE]
Damn!
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