Cydonia (region of Mars)
Cydonia Mensae (Latin; , Cydonia ') is a highland in the northern hemisphere of the planet Mars. It lies between the regions Acidalia Planitia and Arabia Terra. The center is located at 37 ° north latitude and 12.8 degrees west longitude, and its largest expansion is 854 kilometers. Cydonia is a poetic name of the Greek island of Crete.
The Cydonia region is built geologically complex, its origin has not been fully elucidated. It consists mostly of flat terrain with a low to medium density of impact craters from which rise in places rocky formations.
It is believed that Acidalia Planitia was a vast expanse of water billions of years ago and Cydonia Mensae the southeastern coastal region. Back in 2005, the ESA Mars Express spacecraft was detected large deposits of water ice in the southern polar caps. NASA's Phoenix spacecraft finally dismissed in 2008 the presence of water ice a few centimeters below the surface.
Face on Mars
On July 25, 1976, the orbiter spacecraft Viking I photographed from 1873 km altitude of at least three million year old formation which resembles a human face. It provides a survey with a length of 3 km and a width of 1.5 kilometers South of dar. rise pyramidal rock.
Six days later, the recordings, among other images, presented to the public and made headlines. The anomaly was given by the press because of their shape the name Face on Mars and the pyramid-like structures were given by NASA scientists, the term Inca city.
Higher resolution images of the Mars Global Surveyor in 2001 showed, however, that it is the supposed face is a heavily weathered, nearly axisymmetric rock formation that has been eroded by natural processes; the similarity with a human face was most likely caused by the interplay of light and shadow at the time of recording as well as by the tendency of people who preferred to perceive familiar forms ( pareidolia ) concluded. The shapes of the " pyramids " also likely to be caused by wind erosion.
Cydonia in fiction
Due to the high public awareness and numerous, some still ongoing speculation emerged the Cydonia region of Mars and the Cydonia face on in science fiction shows and movies and computer games.
- In the computer game Zak McKracken Cydonia is the site of an abandoned alien base.
- The final battle of the PC game UFO: Enemy Unknown ( German mission name Cydonia or death) was held in an active extraterrestrial base in the region of Cydonia, which was the base from the alien threat in this game.
- Cydonia and the Face on Mars are a key element in the plot of the film Mission to Mars.
- In the sci-fi series Futurama is Cydonia, the face of Mars, the entrance to the underworld in which live the Martians. The output, the " butt of Mars ," is on the other side of the planet.
- In episode 13 of the sci-fi series Invader Zim, Battle of the Planets ( Battle of the Planets ), has been rebuilt by its previous inhabitants in a spacecraft of Mars ( and Mercury). The control unit is hidden in the Face on Mars.
- At the beginning of the episode Owned (Ep. 9, Season 1 ) of the sci-fi series The X-Files - The Files is the photograph of the rock formation discussed briefly. In addition, the former astronaut Lt. Col. Marcus Aurelius Belt plagued by nightmares in which, among other things, the Face on Mars occurs.
- Two songs from the chiptune musician Dubmood, Cydonian Sky and Sleepless ( Cydonian Sky # 2), which are included on the EP chip Disk Vol.4, refer to Cydonia.
- In the pentalogy The Mars Project by Andreas Eschbach is located in the Cydonia region, the station of the Aliens ( Falaner ).
- As a result, the science fair - The return of the series Phineas and Ferb the Martians Candace build a memorial in the shape of her face on the Martian surface. This is destroyed by a laser, so that the real Mars face produced.