Face on Mars
From RationalWiki
The Face on Mars refers to a photo of a feature that looks like a face on the surface of the planet Mars, specifically in the area of Cydonia Mensae. It was first discovered by the Viking 1 orbiter. NASA released the photo to the public and pointed out this cool trick of light, shadows, and low resolution orbital photography. However, true believers thought that the feature was actually built by aliens and that NASA has been trying to cover that up (apparently they believe that it is not a part of NASA's mission to search for evidence of extraterrestrial life or civilizations). One of the most persistent supporters of this idea is Richard C. Hoagland.
Recent high resolution photographs have shown the idea to be false.
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[edit] Proponents' initial mistake
Besides the fact that proponents of the idea have no evidence of an intelligent designer, they also make an error that many anti-evolutionists make. Seeing a series of coincidences in a single area, they understand that the probability that these were created is small. From there, they assume that as the probability was small, it must have had a designer, ignoring the fact that the post-probability is exactly 1, as that is the way it naturally turned out. It is just as likely that the 'face' could have ended up two feet north of its current position. It is just as likely that all of these shapes could have ended up in a different area of Mars. It is less likely that Mars could have ended up covered in faces. However, none of these happened, as the only current situation happened. This is similar to the monkey typewriter theory.
[edit] The Face revisited
All this has now fallen by the way side. On April 5, 1998 NASA sent the Mars Global Surveyor, to take 10 new pictures of Cydonia Mensae, using better cameras, taking a different orbit around the planet.[1] Due to the interest in the "face" NASA released the new photos which clearly showed it to be a mountain, although it does look a bit like an island surrounded by no water. This confirmed NASA's initial position that it was due to the light and the low quality resolution of the camera on the Viking 1 that gave it the smooth appearance. The formation of the mesas in the area are still of great interest to NASA.
[edit] Faces on Earth
Following the launch of Google Earth, people have now begun finding faces on Earth as well, such as this one they think is Jesus in Peru[2] and this mountain in Canada.
