Discussion u10d1, u10d2, u10d3 Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Discussion u10d1, u10d2, u10d3 - Coursework Example On April 5, 1998, when Mars Global Surveyor flew over Cydonia for the first time, Michael Malin and his Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) team snapped a picture ten times sharper than the original Viking photos. There was no alien monument after all. The Face on Mars is located at 41 degrees north martian latitude where it was winter in April 98 -- a cloudy time of year on the Red Planet. The camera on board MGS had to peer through wispy clouds to see the Face. Perhaps, said skeptics, alien markings were hidden by haze. Nevertheless, on April 8, 2001 -- a cloudless summer day in Cydonia -- Mars Global Surveyor drew close enough for a second look. Malins team captured an extraordinary photo using the cameras absolute maximum resolution." Each pixel in the 2001 image spans 1.56 meters, compared to 43 meters per pixel in the best 1976 Viking photo. The first feature to arouse the interest of both the scientific community and the general public was the detection of a â€Å"face-like† anomaly in the area known as Cydonia, a plain in a transitional region between heavily cratered southern highlands and the smooth northern lowlands; the so called â€Å"Face of Mars†. It was photographed by the Viking 1 Orbiter in July 1976 while making detailed imaging for the selection of the landing site for the Viking 1 Lander. The image of the â€Å"Face† gained immediately great publicity and a keen interest in, along with various speculations on, the origin of the familiar looking formation. There are strong advocates for the interpretation that this feature with a length of 2,5 kilometres and a height of 250 metres is artificial, being some kind of a vast monument or perhaps a cenotaph. Later images taken by various orbiters having instruments with higher resolution than those onboard Viking 1 has lent credence to the view of the Face being a natural formation, a rocky hill or mesa with crevices on top simulating the features of a giant face