Given my brief (admittedly lacklustre) childhood flirtation with astronomy - and my ongoing chuminess with the worlds of Sci-Fi, comics etc. - it should come as no surprise that I’ve always been a big fan of the planet Mars (if, indeed, one can be a fan of a planet).
I’m not remotely alone in this of course. From Percival Lowell’s speculation about Martian 'canals', to H. G. Wells' tripod war machines, and on to the famous Cydonian ‘face’ (supposedly ‘discovered’ by Viking 1 in 1976) - Mars has long excited human imaginations as a likely site of extraterrestrial life and advanced (possibly doomed and ancient) civilization.
Thus - in idle and aimless moments - I occasionally pop along to NASA’s excellent Jet Propulsion Laboratory pages to keep tabs on the latest updates from the Mars Global Surveyor and (its successor) the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Though the former went missing in action late last year (and its fate remains unknown) one of its last acts was to apparently prove that water still flows on the Martian surface (or has done in the last number of years).
Incidentally, it was the Global Surveyor that (in 2001) seemed to pour cold water on speculation that the ‘face’ on Mars was a piece of extraterrestrial architecture by publishing higher-res pics of the area [Below: Viking image (Left), MGS (Right)]:
Despite this (and despite other beautiful images captured by the European Space Agency’s Mars Express) many advocates of Martian civilization refuse to be too down-heartened - continuing to sift images for evidence of ‘pyramids’, giant ‘glass tunnels’ etc. Though I remain unconvinced of the implications of such speculations, I still heartily approve of the imaginative exercises involved - for only the most sour-faced of scienticians would (surely) want to rob the universe of all its magic and mystery. After all, picking out meaningful shapes amid the visual noise of the world(s) about us is - as the wife’s "Kind I Like" continues to demonstrate - a most enjoyable human hobby.
Anyway…there I was marvelling at the detail of some Global Surveyor images last night when I stumbled upon what - to my (short-sighted) eyes at least - looked like another Martian face. Not a human-like face this time, but a fairly convincing impression of a goat-like creature…in profile. So here - without much further ado - is a fustar.info exclusive: the goat-headed ancient king of Mars - An Gabhar Marsach (as I hereby dub it in Irish)1:
The details are striking: the distinctive ‘hooded eye’ look of our caprine friends, the bearded chin, the protruding snout etc.2 For anyone who doubts the provenance of the image, it’s merely a blow-up and cropped version of this Surveyor photo (taken 12 Oct, 2006) - see bottom-right corner.
What have I stumbled upon? Proof of goat-headed deities once worshipped by ambitious Martian Satanists? A celestial representation of the demonic Baphomet of Aleister Crowley et al? A barely-identifiable piece of natural simulacra? Whatever the explanation - I expect to become a darling of the crypto-archaeology set before too long.
If readers have spotted any other Martian, Lunar, Jovian (etc) likenesses, please let me know. We’re through the looking glass here people…
Update: Well it must just be me… My beloved can't see the face in question, and she with a site devoted to such things. Anyone? Bear it mind it is just the outline of a head, looking to the left. The fairy folk in the room with me can see it fine (or so they've communicated telepathically).
Further Update: Nice (and very detailed) site on Mars and its anomalies here.
Even Further Update (23/01/07): Via Roger Sizemore's Enormous Blog I've found another intriguing (and much clearer) profile. Not on Mars this time, but near Medicine Hat, Alberta. See here for details.
Tags: Mars, Cydonia, Face on Mars
- With the help of the very kind Mairéad Conneely. [back]
- Admittedly it's a tad 'cartoony'. Perhaps Bob Byrne could render a version for us in his own inimitable style? [back]
wahey! there it is, the trailing proboscus of Papa Fucknagel. Nice find man. My mate Brian the writer of the some of the crap in the Shiznit keeps going on about how the Ballymun flats when viewed on Google earth resembles the om symbol. Still havent checked it out though
January 10th, 2007 at 1:06 amI knew you’d see it, Bob.
Then I’m not crazy. Or maybe we both are…
Off to check up on the ‘mun flats. Wasn’t there a house in Ranelagh that was in the shape of a swastika too?
January 10th, 2007 at 2:49 pmAh, now i see it. For days i could only see the beard.
January 11th, 2007 at 12:12 pmAs an amateur ‘face-finder‘ I can’t see it at all, even after detailed instructions from Fústar.
January 11th, 2007 at 12:14 pmI’d sketch and scan what I can see but the scanner’s leads have gone missing.
Nearly half-way down, almost dead in the middle is the ‘eye’. Locate that and the rest should - ‘magic eye’ style - reveal itself.
By the way, devo - I love the sentence “For days i could only see the beard”. You should write a novel with that as the opening line.
January 11th, 2007 at 2:24 pmA likely story. Just realised you can’t actually see a goat, huh?
January 11th, 2007 at 2:30 pmCan’t see it.
And I know my goats.
January 11th, 2007 at 3:55 pmIn fairness I said it was a goat-like creature, not a goat! And it’s only a portion of the head and face.
Not only is it clearly there, but it’s chatting away and winking at me.
January 11th, 2007 at 11:59 pmOk unimaginative types. Here’s a very, very simplified outline of the facial profile you should be looking for (eye, tiny slitty mouth, and tufty beard all present and correct):
and here’s a version with the contrast bumped up for emphasis:
Well? Well?? It’s as clear as a bright, crisp Martian day.
January 12th, 2007 at 12:16 amlooks more like a man sucking a fish
January 12th, 2007 at 10:44 amI have to join in the doubters on the left with this one, although it makes perfect sense with the drawing superimposed.
January 23rd, 2007 at 2:41 pmSooner or later, I suspect we’ll discover a fractals unified field theory to account for the natural redundancy of forms in space, time and scale.
Until then, I figure there’s no hierarchy in the matter, and all resemblances are most likely true.
Very nicely put, although if a hierarchy does exist, I suspect the “Native American” face linked to on your blog would be closer to the top spot that my “goat head”.
Very true. I came across a site a while back (though, foolishly, I didn’t save it in my favourites) that alleged to have captured images of fairies in someone’s back garden. To the naked eye the pics looked little more than close-ups of bushes and leaves, but with the addition of numerous convoluted outlines all manner of leafy fairy folk could be detected. Must find that page. It was very entertaining.
January 23rd, 2007 at 8:40 pm