Face on Mars

One of the more famous controversies surrounding Mars was spurred in 1976, when the viking orbiter radioed back images from mars. One particular image, from the Cydonia region, depicted a rock formation that strongly resembled a human-like face.

Many cited these images as proof of life on mars and that it was undoubtedly a sculpture carved by sentient (intelligent) Martians. There were (and there probably still are) many people that believe the face is real and NASA is just trying to cover the whole thing up.

However, advances in image capturing and resolution have yielded new images of the face that, in fact, look nothing like a face at all.

Furthermore, the interpretations of the original image can be explained by Pareidolia, a type of illusion or misperception involving a vague or obscure stimulus being perceived as something clear and distinct. Specifically,

“There is an universal tendency among mankind to conceive all beings like themselves, and to transfer to every object, those qualities, with which they are familiarly acquainted, and of which they are intimately conscious.” --David Hume

(this is the same reason why people "see" Jesus in a tortilla)

With the new images, it seems pretty clear that the old images were simply an optical illusion fueled by Pareidolia. But, check it out and judge for yourself!