"To make clay minerals requires long-standing bodies of water and [for life to form] you need that - at least with the experience we have from Earth."
"This puts Marwth Vallis and other clay locations - such as Arabia Terra, Terra Meridiani, Syrtis Major, and Nili Fossae - high on the list of possible ExoMars targets."
The colossal head is located at around 283.24 degrees West longitude, and 17.57 North latitude. That is within the Syrtis Major region! The Syrtis Major region is centered around 290 degrees West longitude and 9.9 degrees North latitude! Funnier still, the colossal head is even closer to the center of the Nili Fossae region - which is centered at 283.2 degrees West and 22.6 degrees North. The center of Syrtis Major is around 500 miles South of the colossal head. The center of the Nili Fossae region is around 185 miles north of the colossal head!
Doug Ellison must be having quite a colossal headache about now! Hee hee
TW, exquisite beyond description. I have spent many sleepless nights looking at this image and hoping that I get to see this with my own eyes one day....
AND for those that do not understand what I am oohing about, here is the bigger picture
-- Edited by Chandre on Saturday 4th of September 2010 07:29:40 PM
"These fresh deposits suggest that at some places and times on present-day Mars, liquid water is emerging from beneath the ground and briefly flowing down the slopes. This possibility raises questions about how the water would stay melted below ground, how widespread it might be, and whether there's a below-ground wet habitat conducive to life. Future missions may provide the answers," said Malin.
Mighty fine thread guys... Chandre dont you ever sleep?? lol Great Job..
Picked up on this post and had a look at the link.. Im hoping you'll see what I can see. Lets just say there a few hundred craters of the same size around the image in link with no ejecta or rays.. Funny how this little impact gave out really suspect rays.. In scale with the impact the ejecta distance leaves standing .. Like Tycho
Now when looking at this highly unusual impact crater on Mars, I could see faint hints of structure, around and becoming part of the impact / ejecta zone. What was more interesting was an original crater. Much larger and Octagonal began to partially reveal itself.
The whole site took on a new complexion.
Ive been extremely careful with this image. I didnt want to enhance what wasnt there. Ive also shown craters around the to left of similar size..
The Final image is a blow up of central region.. Theres a lot of pixilation .. But just take time to look at the underlying structure..
Hope u guys can see this.. If not please let me know..
in the yellow box there is a fairly good image of the eyes and snout/nose of a drac or godzilla kind of alien. Maybe like a crocodile with a shortened snout.
Looks something like this from the nostrils upwards.
Thanks TW for that image, it certainly provides food for thought.
Your image appears to have two faces superimposed on each other and visble at the same time. I know Frutty and Harry and Timewarp have mentioned this strange method before but this is the first time I am seeing it at this scale.
It looks like a human and a 'grey' face to me.
There is also a large structure to the right of the head that looks a lot like a landing platform seen in Star Wars, strange isn't it....
Edited to insert iamge that did not pull through the first time
-- Edited by Chandre on Sunday 22nd of August 2010 11:59:38 AM
"These fresh deposits suggest that at some places and times on present-day Mars, liquid water is emerging from beneath the ground and briefly flowing down the slopes. This possibility raises questions about how the water would stay melted below ground, how widespread it might be, and whether there's a below-ground wet habitat conducive to life. Future missions may provide the answers," said Malin.
Hi Humanoid, Thank you, I have been looking at that and was also surprised that it was there, but then when you zoom in you understand that it suits the 'agenda' as the anomaly is easily dismissed with the way the surface land/ice forms appear to form the face. Of course if you look closer at images of better quality you see they don't actually form the face and that these images on Google have been manipulated and 'simplified'. There is an interesting point that I did not know until I looked at this site and that is the red square to the left of the image is a proposed future landing site. Now I will not hold my breath awaiting that, but maybe we will be lucky ?
Hi again Chandre, Yesterday I was browsing around Google Mars and was surprised at being able to see your favorite anomaly, albeit in poor quality and false color and thought you may be interested in seeing it too (if you haven't already that is)...so here it is...
If you want to find it yourself in Google Mars,�paste this coordinates: 283.24W, 17.57N
-- Edited by Humanoid on Sunday 27th of September 2009 10:59:40 PM
Please read the entry titled Mulled Wine and Mermaids under the Ancient Civilisations for background on this post.
My final entry into this thread, I am sure some are breathing a sigh of relief, but I am going to leave you with three things to think about, an ancient poem, a few requests and a quest.
1.The Ancient Poem
This poem is linked to mythical/mystical race of the Tuatha De Danann.
MURIAS
In the sunken city of Murias A golden Image dwells: The sea-song of the trampling waves Is as muffled bells Where He dwells, In the city of Murias.
In the sunken city of Murias A golden Image gleams: The loud noise of the moving seas Is as woven beams Where He dreams, In the city of Murias.
In the sunken city of Murias, Deep, deep beneath the sea The Image sits and hears Time break The heart I gave to thee And thou to me, In the city of Murias.
In the city of Murias, Long, oh, so long ago, Our souls were wed when the world was young; Are we old now, that we know This silent woe In the city of Murias? In the sunken city of Murias A graven Image dwells: The sound of our little sobbing prayer Is as muffled bells Where He dwells, In the city of Murias.
2.My Requests
Question we need to ask !
Were the Tuatha from Mars ?
Did their ships burn from entry into Earths atmosphere ?
Were they marooned on Earth with no escape ?
How would you have preserved the secret of your origin if you had been them ?
Where did they go and how did they get there ?
Who are WE, where did WE come from, where are WE going to ?
As I am the only one persistently working on the Head Anomaly as far as I can tell on the net, and as JP Skipper would not claim the right, I request that we name this area where the anomaly is located Murias, to honour the image and our ancestors that may have originated from here. I further support my request with the image below (thanks to Papa for that) as it may be possible that the image has named itself . You can clearly see an 'M' to the right of the nose although the other letters are not as clear.
3.The Quest
There were three other cities that the Tuatha claimed as their origins (see the Mulled Wine and Mermaid post). I believe these cities were linked to Mars rather than Earth. I believe I know where two of the others are, I challenge you to see if you can find all of them.
My journey continues, but unfortunately not on this subject. This is the end of this thread from my side. I have shared my insights and I am sending the theory out there. Only time will tell if I may be correct, but I know it has been a fascinating and rewarding journey exploring an enigma that has haunted me for two years. As hesitant as I have been to post my theories for fear of being ridiculed, I have now come to the realisation that the only stupid question that exists is the one you never ask !
Updated on 14 August 2009 Humanoid made an valid point and instead of appearing to mislead anyone I decided to dig a bit deeper and examine what the rest of the world had to say about ice on Mars. I did not think there would be much seeing as how NASA only recently acknowledged the possibility, so imaginge my surprise when I discovered the following information (all linked to NASA).
Please note that I am posting the sites and then excerpts from the works that highlight data that may pertain to the issue of ice/permafrost on Mars. Please note that these works have been prepared by experts in their fields and have been acknowledged by their relevant scientific communities. These reports refer to past conditions on Mars and experts seem divided on if this is still the case today. I believe it is and have posted why I believe that previously.
Exploring Mars for Past or Present Life Fagents, S.A., Lanagan, P. & Greeley, R. (In Press, 2002). Pseudocraters on Mars: A consequence of lava-ground ice interaction. In: Special Publication on Volcano-Ice Interaction on Earth and Mars. Bath, England: Geological Society of London Publishing.
Other indirect evidence for a once wetter Mars abounds on a planetary scale. Many martian craters are surrounded by ejecta that look like mudflows. Near the equator, only the larger craters (over 4 km diameter) show such "muddy" ejecta, whereas near the poles, even craters as small as one kilometer display them. This suggests the existence of a subsurface permafrost layer (frozen water and soil) which is deeper near the equator, where it is warmer (and hence, only the larger craters can penetrate to this layer), but becomes shallower near the colder poles.
Where did all the martian water go? Mars may have lost to space a substantial amount of its atmosphere, including carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and water vapor. The loss of carbon dioxide -- a potent greenhouse gas -- would have caused Mars to become much colder and drier. While some of the water may have been irretrievably lost to space, most of it may still reside in various reservoirs on Mars. Among these are a permafrost layer up to 1 km thick, clay minerals and oxidation products, and layered deposits at the poles. Taken together, these reservoirs could hold the equivalent of a layer of water around 0.5 km thick, if spread uniformly over the martian surface.
End of edit *********************************************************
Hi Humanoid, I am very persistant and I have an agenda. This enigma has haunted me for the past two years ! I am going to post my final two posts on this and a related subject in the next few days and then I will let it go, it will be 'out there' hopefull keeping Mulders 'Truth' company (X-Files). As far as the temperature is concerned, I know Skipper said that the temperatures are not the extremes that Nasa wants us to believe, they could not be if there is surface water, but I don't remember anything about the 'same' as Earth ? I believe that Mars is much colder, it must be as it is further from the Sun, so its possible that the equator region is similar in temperature to our areas like Greenland and Siberia ? I know that Mars is experiencing the same global warming phase that we are, in fact certain scientists believe the whole solar system is experiencing it. I would give anything to see thermal images (that I could believe) that may help me understand this. I also would love to see images of this area that had no tampering !
-- Edited by Chandre on Friday 14th of August 2009 08:20:42 AM
Hi Chandre, very well thought out post as usual and may I congratulate you on your persistence in trying to resolve this enigma!
Now as far as possible ice is concerned, the head is situated almost exactly on the equator and if temperatures on Mars are similar to those on Earth as Skipper suggests, then I donn't think we should be seeing any ice in that area.
With all the tampering and obfuscation present in all data from all missions its really hard to say what we're looking at!
Right, after a short break I am now resuming work on this my favourite subject.
There are way too many photographs to post on the site so I am going to try to limit what I am showing you but I want you to know that I have more on file than what is being posted today.
The issue that we are dealing with is how the Head can exist. There is abolutely no doubt that it does from all of the NASA images listed below.
Previous entries examined the possibility of physical landforms where shadows may create the illusion of a head, this was ruled out with Winstons input due to the basic fact that these images are taken at different times of the day, in different months and years but the image remains the same. I then started to look at the possibility of the actual terrain being physically coloured to create the image, but after carefully examining all of the Narrow Angle images that cross over the Head I am confident that this is not the case. Mr JP Skipper has included a back view of the head in his report at www.marsanomalyresearch.com tosupport the fact that it is a 3-dimensional object. Logically you could not see the back of the head if it was a physical creation on the surface as you need to see it from the correct angle for the illusion to work.
It is my belief, and here I am going out on a limb, that we are seeing this Head through a surface covering of frozen ice that is slowly melting and revealing the image trapped beneath it. I believe that since the Viking images (when the area was possibly covered by ice) global warming on Mars has melted areas of that ice (and is continuing to melt) and we are seeing what is under the ice slowly being revealed. I also believe that the Head and the other evidence in the area around it may exist under a dome or force-field on which the ice and water is resting. OK, I may have lost you there, it is a huge jump...so please examine what I am presenting below and then examine the images of the area yourself and you will see where I am coming from.
First we need to understand what global warming looks like. I am showing some images taken on Earth below just to illustrate my point.
NASA image acquired on April 6, 2009. Less than a week later the MODIS instrument on NASAs Aqua satellite captured the above image. The smooth bridge is gone, replaced by chunks of ice.
The pieces of the former ice bridge join multiple other chunks of ice formed as the northern portion of the ice shelf broke apart throughout the previous decade. The broken pieces of the shelf have remained frozen in place since 1998, but now that the ice bridge no longer provides a barrier, the remnants of the ice shelf may flow out into the Southern Ocean. The southern portion of the Wilkins Ice Shelf (part of which appears in the lower right corner of the images) is still intact, but may be more vulnerable now that the northern edge has disintegrated.
This NASA handout Terra satellite image obtained on April 21, 2009 shows The Wilkins Ice Shelf, on the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula, as it experienced multiple disintegration events in 2008. By the beginning of 2009, a narrow ice bridge was all that remained to connect the ice shelf to ice fragments fringing nearby Charcot Island. That bridge gave way in early April 2009. Days after the ice bridge rupture, on April 12, 2009, the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on NASAs Terra satellite acquired this image of the southern base of the ice bridge, where it connected with the remnant ice shelf. Although the ice bridge has played a role in stabilizing the ice fragments in the region, its rupture doesnt guarantee the ice will immediately move away. (HO/AFP/Getty Images)
This image is of an area close to the Head on Mars that shows similar forms to the above images on Earth.
The Ward Hunt Ice shelf Showing the frozen mel****er ponds associated with its undulating surface topography.
Now you have an idea of what it looks like on Earth, you are able to look at the areas around the Head with a new idea (hopefully) of what you may be seeing.
There are a few images that offer a cross-section of the Head. They are
R02-00927 E12-02431 M08-01074
There are also two images of what I think may be ice-fields in the same area
M15-01270 E12-01633
Note the craters are not as pronounced, would that be the case if they hit a layer of ice and the water below absorbed a lot of the impact. I don't know...maybe someone could help me with that.
The undulating ridges, the crack lines that then refreeze and the pools of mel****er are evident on many of the images listed above. I am sorry that I cannot show all of them but they are clearly visible if you look at the images yourself.
The Head is highly reflective and appears to reflect sunlight back up through the ice so areas that cover the head in images are very overexposed. If you adjust the brightness and imagine that you are looking down through water or something else you can make out the structure beneath.
I look forward to your comments and ideas that may help !
-- Edited by Chandre on Wednesday 12th of August 2009 12:58:32 PM
-- Edited by Chandre on Wednesday 12th of August 2009 01:10:41 PM
As an added point to talk about I was examining one of the wide angle images I posted (M2202033) that is not as clear as the other images. It has an incredible amount of light in the one area, so I started to play around by rotating and working on contrast and brightness and found a very strange feature that resembles a wall and a tower.
Skipper definitely considers this as a structural anomaly. See excerpt from his report below (original on www.marsanomalyresearch.com)
"Make no mistake about it, this is some of the most incredible and extraordinary evidence to come out of any satellite imaging of another world made available to the public.
As you can see, the most striking anomaly here is most definitely the human or humanoid head sitting upright in the terrain with only the upper areas of the head visible from the mid nose area up. Note that this object's surface is smooth contrasting sharply with the rough terrain it sits in demonstrating that it is almost certainly an artificially smoothed creation. Note that the head is balding and perfectly anatomically correct complete with nose projection and two recessed closed eye areas under a forehead and brow, again anatomically correct. The lower portions of the head are obscured by image tampering applications.
If its mere presence isn't enough, consider the absolutely colossal size of this monument. I've made some crude calculations and according to my hand measurements, this head occupies a conservative 16% of the width of this official strip and the MSSS statistical data says that the strip has a scaled image width of 120.67 km. Therefore according to official statistics the head is 120.67 km x 16% = 19.31 km wide. With 1 km equaling .62137 mile and the strip being 120.67 km x .62137 = 74.98 miles wide, then this head monument is 74.98 miles x 16% = 12 miles wide. In other words, at 19+ km or 12 miles wide, this immense monument is the size of a entire very large mountain. Now that is colossal in every sense of the word.
Don't forget that this is a WIDE-ANGLE context image providing a wide area regional view where only really huge objects can be seen at all as opposed to the usual narrow-angle closer resolution strips. For example, a structure the size of the Empire State Building would be far too small to be seen at all in this image. As another example, consider that the Mars "Face" image that so much controversy swirls around would also be too small to be visible at all in this scene. That should give you an idea of the colossal size scale involved here. So, with that comparison in mind, I have to wonder how evidence with too many ambiguous qualities like the Mars "Face" can continue to get so much attention from so many while incredibly powerful much stronger and much more obvious high quality evidence like this is essentially ignored?
In the lower right corner of the image, you can also see what may be a strange looking dark pictograph in the light color terrain. This appears to be a stylized representation or emblem of some creature life form but who knows what this form may represent on another different world? Just above the pictograph form is a dark area that I suspect is part of a smaller river system that comes from our right to left across in front of the giant head where it disappears there in some image tampering application that crosses over the lower portion of the head obscuring the area where a mouth might be. It is possible that this smaller river may have been designed to symbolically flow into the mouth of this colossal monument in this tampering obscured area, pass through the head bottom area, and empty into the larger river that comes from above to the back of this head.
-- Edited by Chandre on Thursday 23rd of July 2009 05:59:06 PM
I think WInston is right when he says the "colossal head" as shape is an illusion.
but i think that the "nose" and the straight line above it ( "eyebrow arcade" ) are intresting : they from a "T" that can be described with difficulties as a product of the natural case.
in the same way the "front" is an area well smoothed and gives to me the feeling that the enitre site can be a sort of building or a ship landed ( obviuosly it could be an incredible joke of the nature but as i yet told it would be really a rarty in such case )
the "gliphe" is also intresting : personally i think it's an hole, if u look well and close to the image u will see that there is a darker pixels area inside the center of the gliphe, that's why i belive it can be a big hole.
Replies updated, Winston guess you are reading this site as you refer to my thoughts on height and that not posted on Skippers site so I will continue the dialogue here ?
Chandre says:
Thanks for the input Winston. I understand what you are saying as I have examined the narrow angle images to try to understand the surface terrain. Yes, at a certain angle in one image the sun on a gently sloping terrain with craters and ridges could possibly create an illusion of a face. The problem is that there are numerous images taken at different times of the year, angles and times of day and they all show EXACTLY the same image. Is that possible ? I tried an experiment in a sand pit recreating surface features like ridges and hollows and using a light I changed angles and lighting to recreate different times of day. The shadows change, creating different images (very basic I know but all I have ). I am sorry if this basic approach may offend the more scientific members of the Community but I think it was effective enough to convince me that shadows would not create this anomaly in SEVENTEEN different images on the NASA web-site ?
Winston says:
Clicked "submit" prematurely, anonymous reply is mine.
Posted on : 2009-07-07 11:41:25
Anonymous says:
I would quibble with using the phrase "exactly the same image" since I can see differences between the two images I referenced (P06_003376_1987_XN_18N283W and P17_007780_1987_XI_18N283W), but I understand the gist of your point. What you've determined, then, is that the differing intensities are not primarily from shadows or terrain height differences, but from surface color variations. (You've just ruled out a 17 km high monument and learned an important lesson about using data from various sources. If the dark areas move around consistent with illumination angles, it's a shadow. And if it's not a shadow, it's not caused by a 3-dimensional structure. It's caused by changes in color of the surface.) I concur partly --- as I said before the right "eye" seems to be darker material that has been windswept in the east/west direction. I would argue that the "nose" is fairly clearly a peak and that it will always have a lit portion regardless of illumination angle that will form the nose feature. But your conjecture is valid. IF the images are identical for different sun illumination angles, THEN they're not caused by shadows.
Winston brings up an interesting point regarding colour differences possibly creating the illusion, so instead of a projection could it be possible that they have coloured different natural features to create a seemingly 3-dimensional image visible from the air but it is actually on the ground. Viable, but how we do account for what appears to be the seasonal changes that seem to partially obscure the head ? Would that be true if it was a 1-dimensional surface image ? Any ideas ?
to the left u can see the gliphe. the entire area is full of anomalies, i really don't know what can be hypothetically coming from an alien source. whatever in this image as in many others something doesn't match....
ok thx now i go to find the gliphe ( i hope to be able to work it a little but my damn gimp goes over when i try to work this image ... )
i saved only that portion of the image ( if i remember well it's the area inside the withe rectangle in the panoramic image u posted ), so i don't have the aq. park.
the anomaly appears in 17 different views : this means there is. then maybe it isn't a colossal head, but it can be something else. of course it seems an area with a surface strangely smoothed, too regular in it shapes respect to the ambient around. that's what personally i belive.
Papa, thanks for the photos. They remind me of how significant this area is. Did you save the one of the shark in the Aquatic park nearby ? The glyph is in the image below and many others I have listed. There is something that looks like a river coming out of the nose and bending to the right. The glyph starts just below where the river widens on the flat white surface. I am going to try to crop the picture and highlight it for you. Hope you can see it ? I am confident this was what Skipper was referring to although I am open to correction.
Winston just posted this reply to me on Skippers site
Chandre: "Not sure about how the angle of the sun would affect the anomaly as I have about 17 different images taken on different dates and at different times and the anomaly remains the same." The azimuth angle of the sun will have an impact as to whether ambiguous features appear concave or convex --- the phenomenon of craters appearing as shallow domes, most commonly. In the M00-01639 image, the sun azimuth angle is -78 degrees (illumination coming from WNW). This is not consistent with a large convex feature rising from the surface whose most prominently shadowed side is toward the NW. Inspection of closeups of the area (http://viewer.mars.asu.edu/planetview/inst/ctx/P06_003376_1987_XN_18N283W and http://viewer.mars.asu.edu/planetview/inst/ctx/P17_007780_1987_XI_18N283W --- download and rotate 180 degrees for proper "face" orientation) show a very gently sloping terrain (compare the heights of shadows for actual craters, ridges, and lips in the area) for the right side of the "head" with some eroded peaks and rugged terrain for the nose and left side of the "head". Once zoomed far enough in to see detail, the individual featues that make up the components of the "head" are visible, and the illusion loses cohesion. No evidence of a multi-km high structure rising from the surface either from shadows in the images or from the MOLA data. From your investigation of the 17 images at different sun illumination angles you should be able to clearly what parts are shadows and what parts are terrain discolorations (the right "eye" does seem to be consistent with the east-west windswept terrain throughout the image).
this is the landing pad. i think that the lines that this "strange rock" shows are indeed souspicious. unluckly mine Gimp goes in crash if i try to work this image...so i can't dig it well...
i saved ( :) ) the landing pad/dome zone as one of the most beautiful sightings of JPSkipper. the arrows shows the location of an object similar to "pole" that i will focus on. i will post a couple of zooms fro this image : it rocks
Sorry Humanoid, the pictograph Skipper mentioned was to the right of the bottem of the head, it resembles a glyph of some sort. I have looked at this and believe it may be surface water above the head on the transparant dome/ice. If you examine narrow angle images of the area you will see what I mean ? If it is a glyph it resemble what we would call 'angelic script' although I cannot find similar letters to be able to decipher it. Anyone out there that knows more about ancient scripts that wants to have a try ?
Hi Humanoid and Zenon I never could see the animal either so I cannot comment on it. Skippers report on this highlighted it as a colossal head and there was what appeared to be a river and streets, dome, building, landing pad in the vicinity. We cannot access that report at present so I am not 100% sure on the details. I have listed 17 seperate images taken over years, and this anomaly is clear in each of them, it cannot be a natural rock formation because of the detail and anatomical correctness of the proportions. I did look at the original Viking image but it is too vague to include. It did lead me to believe that it may have been possible that at that time something (possibly sand or ice) had obscured the area and therefor NASA did not realise the significance of these images until they had been released and then it was too late. They certainly made an effort to photograph this area yearly as there are 17 wide angle images of the area (not sure if this was considered as a landing site, did the Beagle not land close and not operate ?). The 'covering' changes seasonally, so maybe it was covered when the Viking pictures were taken and the weather changes caused by the global warming has now revealed 'what lies beneath' ?
Like Humanoid, I too have always viewed this image as natural geography (even though it resembles a human head), the thing with images is, 'they are always open to misinterpretation', our brains collect the visual evidence and interpret it to something we can understand, it is when we cannot understand the information that the thing becomes an anomaly.
I could be very much mistaken with this image and it could be a giant statue of a head, but I will sit on the fence with this one until a clearer image becomes available.
__________________
"Creating a fiction when stating a fact destroys the credibility of the truth one are trying to convey"
Hmm...interesting thoughts Chandre. Until now I always thought the Head was an elevated mesa/mountain feature surrounded by lowlands, but then again I've never really looked into the terrain topography before. Guess I will have to examine all presented images of this anomaly.
Have you seen the Viking imagery of the area taken years before MGS? At first glance the Head seems absent (due to airbrushing most probably) but under closer examination one begins to see the faint outlines of it. It's quite hard to be distinguished though as image quality is poor and one needs to know where exactly to look fot it!
Remember Skipper speaking of a feature he calls "pictograph"? This too can be faintly seen in the Viking image. However I never got to make out the "Animal monument" he is talking about neither in the Viking nor MGS imagery. What animal is it anyway??
Would anyone like to give me some input. Please see my posts on Skippers site below and answers from Winston, then please see my notes and ideas that need some help.
Hi Winston Please can you help me with a query I am having with an image. The image is located at http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/ab1_m04/images/M0001638.html It is in the wide angle image M00-01639 on this page. I cannot count pixels but it occupies the middle of the bottem of the image (6 o'clock). I really would like to know the size of this anomaly, width and length. If you have difficulty seeing it look for something that resembles the top half of a human head. Can you assist, the data would be appreciated ?
Winston says:
Another piece of relevant information you might have overlooked before deriving conclusions from the image: the sun illumination azimuth angle in the map projected image is -78.41 deg (= sun azimuth - north azimuth = 14.83 deg - 93.24 deg). This is also casually observable by the sun illumination azimuth for the small crater at 2 o'clock halfway to the edge of the image. (Click on the links for the definitions of the acquisition parameters and derived values on that page. They're helpful.)
Posted on : 2009-07-06 14:33:53
Winston says:
Everything needed to make an estimate is on the page you reference. The small white rectangle in M00-01639 is the outline of the region used for narrow-angle image M00-01638. The "scaled image width" and "scaled image height" are listed as 3.01 km and 14.17 km, so your feature is something like 17 km wide and 25 km in length.
Posted on : 2009-07-06 13:43:09
Thanks Winston, I really appreciate that. Not sure about how the angle of the sun would affect the anomaly as I have about 17 different images taken on different dates and at different times and the anomaly remains the same. I have wondered if it may be projected onto the surface from an elevated position, but that is unlikely given the different dates/times/angles of the other images and the fact that it does not change. It must be a physical feature on the surface, but when you examine pictures of the elevation in that area it is shown as lower than the normal surface level so it is fascinating. Maybe it is being projected UP onto a transparant/clear surface from somewhere below the normal surface level. I am still working on the images so I am sure I will have many more questions for the community as I proceed but you have given me an idea on where to look next. Thanks !
The approximate measurement of that anomaly is 17km wide, and if you assume that it is anatomically correct it means it should be about 17km high.
Table Mountain (in South Africa) is 1.087km high. I have stood at the base and looked up, I have stood at the top and looked down and trust me it is high. This would be SEVENTEEN times higher. When driving through the Karoo (a vast very flat semi-arid area in South Africa) I have found myself staring at the distant horizon trying to imagine this anomaly standing 17 kilometers wide and at least 17 kilometers high. My little mortal mind just battles to get around that thought, it tries valiantly but in all honesty it is about as evolved to handle this concept as the Merino sheep staring vacantly at me from the fields as I drive past.
I think we can safely rule out the fact that this is being projected downward from an elevated site as there is evidence in many of these images of something at surface level above the head. You can check that out for yourself, or if you mail me I can send you a Word doc with all of the images saved onto it from the Malin site so you can do a comparison.
The density of the cover above the head appears to almost be seasonal. The question is are we looking at this head through something ? A force field, a glass dome, a sheet of ice ? If it is a physical structure and is that big, then it should be standing in a sunken area at least 18km deep. The topography maps for the area are not reflecting that, but maybe I am not looking at them correctly. Is there anyone that would understand them a bit better and could give more accurate feedback on that ? Is this indicating the possibility of a hollow earth that we are glimpsing through a skylight like area ? The other evidence in the area and narrow angle images indicates rivers, buildings, roads etc so the theory that this anomaly may be frozen in ice that is melting( as a result of the global warming that is happening on Mars as well) is invalid. If the anomaly was surrounded by water we would not be able to see the other structures.
Now Winston has given me an idea, is it possible that this image is being projected from the civilization evidence that Skipper highlighted onto a transparent service such as a glass dome ? If this is possible would the area under the dome only be a few km high which would then be in keeping with the topography? Is there anyone that could help me with ideas on how we could work that out with the images we have ?