In one of the images taken by Viking 1 on July 25, 1976, a two-kilometre-long (1.2 mi) Cydonian mesa, situated at 40.75° north latitude and 9.46° west longitude, had the appearance of a humanoid face. 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 other eleven images have resolutions that are worse than 550 m/pixel (1800 ft/pixel) and are of limited use for studying surface features. Eighteen images of the Cydonia region were taken by the orbiters, of which seven have resolutions better than 250 m/ pixel (820 ft/pixel). Ĭydonia was first imaged in detail by the Viking 1 and Viking 2 orbiters. The black dots that give the image a speckled appearance are data errors ( salt-and-pepper noise). It is in the Mare Acidalium quadrangle.Ĭropped version of the original batch-processed image (#035A72) of the "Face on Mars".
Some planetologists believe that the northern plains may once have been ocean beds, and that Cydonia may once have been a coastal zone. Location Ĭydonia 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. Ĭydonia contains the "Face on Mars", located about halfway between the craters Arandas and Bamberg.
As with other albedo features on Mars, the name Cydonia was drawn from classical antiquity, in this case from Kydonia ( Ancient Greek: Κυδωνία Latin: Cydonia), a historic polis (city state) on the island of Crete. 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. The area borders the plains of Acidalia Planitia and the highlands of Arabia Terra. The name originally referred to the albedo feature (distinctively coloured area) that was visible from earthbound telescopes. Small part of the Cydonia region, taken by the Viking 1 orbiter and released by NASA/ JPL on July 25, 1976Ĭydonia ( / s ɪ ˈ d oʊ n i ə/, / s aɪ ˈ d oʊ n i ə/) is a region on the planet Mars that has attracted both scientific and popular interest.
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