The most detailed map of Mars ever produced.
February 25, 2002 5:23 PM Subscribe
The most detailed map of Mars ever produced. Brought to you by Malin Space Science Systems. The images were captured from The Mars Global Surveyor. They really are incredibly clear. I'm trying find the Mars Face. No luck yet though. (Click image to zoom in)
Stupid question, but: why isn't it red? Just a black and white photo, or was it processed in a certain way to enhance resolution?
posted by MattD at 6:41 PM on February 25, 2002
posted by MattD at 6:41 PM on February 25, 2002
I see a face here. Scroll all the way to the right. Approx 185W by 7S. It is a side-view of a human head, looking to the right. Quite decent artwork. But their brain looks a little funny.
posted by jmccorm at 6:46 PM on February 25, 2002
posted by jmccorm at 6:46 PM on February 25, 2002
FWIW, the Face on Mars is near coordinates 40N by 1OW. Resolution is too low to see anything interesting.
posted by jmccorm at 6:54 PM on February 25, 2002
posted by jmccorm at 6:54 PM on February 25, 2002
Pretty cool pictures, the global view gives me a lot better feeling for the topology of the planet as a whole. I wonder how much 40 acres near the equater runs?
posted by ArkIlloid at 7:31 PM on February 25, 2002
posted by ArkIlloid at 7:31 PM on February 25, 2002
To me it looks like the profile of a native american chief that some people see in the face of Mount Rushmore (look to the left of George Washington ..and squint a little). Or Elvis' face in a tortilla. The skeptics dictionary refers to it as pareidolia which is kinda ironic cuz I can't find a dictionary that accepts it as a word. It's like putting a bunch of random letters together, finding a pattern in the chaos and claiming them to be a word.
posted by ZachsMind at 7:45 PM on February 25, 2002
posted by ZachsMind at 7:45 PM on February 25, 2002
jmccorm, surely you realize they just airbrushed the Face out of that image. The coverup is on!
posted by jjg at 8:20 PM on February 25, 2002
posted by jjg at 8:20 PM on February 25, 2002
Really cool link. Now, Art Bell comes on here in about an hour, and I expect Richard Hoagland, the leading proponent of the face-on-Mars theory, to be on again.
Gotta finish up some work, make some tea, and put on my tinfoil hat.
To quote the Martian Ambassador: "Ack. Ack ACK ack."
posted by ebarker at 9:08 PM on February 25, 2002
Gotta finish up some work, make some tea, and put on my tinfoil hat.
To quote the Martian Ambassador: "Ack. Ack ACK ack."
posted by ebarker at 9:08 PM on February 25, 2002
Something has definitely been drawn in the sand at the bottom of 5s 205w. And as for the horse in 5s 220w, I'm not even going to go there.
posted by RobertLoch at 3:57 AM on February 26, 2002
posted by RobertLoch at 3:57 AM on February 26, 2002
MattD: it's black and white photography. If you see one with color, it's been enhanced manually.
It's really gratifying that the MGS mission has turned out so well -- given all the failures in Mars-bound spacecraft over the years, the level of expectation for us space geeks has to be kept at a very artificially low level. When a mission like this meets all its targets, it's very sweet.
And I actually think that what they've found is far more interesting than a face. (Well, maybe if it were a real face....) The mesa-like structure shows clear signs of what, on Earth, would be millennia of erosion, which strongly suggests a liquid ocean at some point in the past. (It's also possible that wind erosion alone created these.) This heartens those who see Mars as a future target for colonization.
And of course for sheer fun there's the Happy Face Crater; and check out the valentine mesa and others that resemble doggie-in-a-blankets and butterflies.
posted by dhartung at 7:05 AM on February 26, 2002
It's really gratifying that the MGS mission has turned out so well -- given all the failures in Mars-bound spacecraft over the years, the level of expectation for us space geeks has to be kept at a very artificially low level. When a mission like this meets all its targets, it's very sweet.
And I actually think that what they've found is far more interesting than a face. (Well, maybe if it were a real face....) The mesa-like structure shows clear signs of what, on Earth, would be millennia of erosion, which strongly suggests a liquid ocean at some point in the past. (It's also possible that wind erosion alone created these.) This heartens those who see Mars as a future target for colonization.
And of course for sheer fun there's the Happy Face Crater; and check out the valentine mesa and others that resemble doggie-in-a-blankets and butterflies.
posted by dhartung at 7:05 AM on February 26, 2002
I'd like to see this published as an atlas, or perhaps even a globe. Are there enough others who combine an interest in Mars with a fascination over maps to make it worthwhile?
-Mars
posted by Mars Saxman at 8:42 AM on February 26, 2002
-Mars
posted by Mars Saxman at 8:42 AM on February 26, 2002
Well, there are globes out there.
Most astro university libraries will carry an atlas of the raw and processed images.
As for new data, I think the twin rovers are up next. It should also be interesting to see what the Nozomi mission can tell us about the Martian atmosphere, specifically whether there is a net atmospheric loss at the level of the ionosphere.
posted by vacapinta at 9:51 AM on February 26, 2002
Most astro university libraries will carry an atlas of the raw and processed images.
As for new data, I think the twin rovers are up next. It should also be interesting to see what the Nozomi mission can tell us about the Martian atmosphere, specifically whether there is a net atmospheric loss at the level of the ionosphere.
posted by vacapinta at 9:51 AM on February 26, 2002
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People thought they saw the devil in the smoke during the WTC, and the images give that indication. However, it's like seeing bunnies in the clouds. The human mind just tends to seek patterns in chaos. That doesn't guarantee the patterns are there. We just think we see them. The same holds true for the Mars face.
posted by ZachsMind at 6:40 PM on February 25, 2002