 |
|
The Cydonia Triangle
A Work in Progress
By Martin D. Coats
(C)1998/1999
| It was Charley McCarthy's fault. You
know, the panic of '38, end of October it was. The Martians
were invading, or so some radio listeners believed for a time on that
Sunday night before Halloween. Well, Charley didn't actually do it. But, his show was on at the same time as was Orson Wells' Mercury Theater on the Air. The story is told in the latest National Geographic book on Mars. Ten minuets into Charlie's show a singer, not particularly liked, was put on. A lot of listeners changed station. The Mercury Theater's audience doubled. These late comers found what sounded like a normal show being interrupted by news bulletins of a strange astronomical event. An event taking place not far from the actual whereabouts of many of the listeners. |
|
Lowell's Mars |
In 1938 a person
that was paying attention to the events of the day could very easily see
the possibility of Martians, or at least life on Mars. Those studying Mars
were describing systems of canals and suggesting that they were the engineering
efforts of a Martian civilization. Figure 1
is a sketch showing the Martian canal system as seen by Percival Lowell.
Seasonal changes suggested processes similar to those on Earth such as a
spring and summer growing season. By Monday morning all knew it was a radio drama. Life returned to normal and Mars continued to revolve around the Sun, unchanged for the past millions of years. |
Figure 2 The Face as seen from Viking |
| Mars has been seen in many ways. H. G.
Wells novel "War
of the Worlds" is but one. Written with less knowledge of Mars
then we now have, the story is more reminiscent of the destruction done
by a colonial power to a newly discovered people, much as was Europe doing
to the rest of the world at the time. By the time Orson
Wells did his radio show much of the political Europe had once held was
gone. But the economic exploitation remains to this very day.
As the century progressed, our knowledge of Mars was slowly being refined. By the time we were ready to send cameras to Mars, most scientists had given up the idea of shaking hands with a Martian. But, the Martians were alive and well in science fiction. My favorite Martian is Michael Valentine Smith, an Earthling raised on Mars. He returned home to become the "Stranger in a Strange Land" by Robert Heinlein. Many scientists believed we would find evidence of past life and some hoped of at least finding a bacteria or two. With this in our mind humankind sent cameras for a closer look. The pictures returned were certainly of no paradise. The Mariner and Viking data showed a very desolate planet. Some areas were of volcanic origin. Other areas showed signs of massive water flows. |
|
Figure 3
Figure 5
Image taken by the |
So, with an expectation of finding Martians, a geologic formations on the Cydonia Plain was taken by some to be a face and city built by artisans and engineers. A small industry was built on the premise that the "Face" and "City" are artifacts of a past Martian Civilization. Figure 4 is one of the more artistic interpretations of the City. Richard C. Hoagland has written books on the subject. He also has a web site devoted to this and many other interesting possibilities, such as, a glass like dome on the Moon. More recent images of the "Face" taken by the Mars Global Surveyor clearly show the volcanic processes that brought the "Face" to be what it is to day. So the Face is a large chunk of hardened lava being pushed around by a new lava flow. This lava comes from somewhere. The Cydonia Plain is a flat expanse with mesas large and small. The somewhat regular geomiteries of the mesas suggest something hard that broke up in the flow of a fluid. From an even higher prospective one sees Lomonosov to the north and Lyot to the east northeast. Both very large craters capable of spilling large volumes of lava over the surrounding terrain. |
Figure
4
Figure 6 |
Figure 7
The Cydonia Triangle
|
Figure 8 |
It is said that the northern lowlands may be ancient seabeds. A quick look at Lomonosov could support this. The perimeter of this crater shows cracking that is filled with something. Something that could be accumulated sediment from millions of years as a sea bed. Or hardened lava from a final eruption. The detail in and around Lyot does not suggest an ancient seabed but several volcanic eruptions. To the south of Lyot there are what looks to be chunks of broken lava. As though one eruption came before the previous had fully hardened. |
Figure 9 |
||
|
Lomonosov |
An Argument for Volcanic Origin. |
Lyot Bubble poped several times? |
||
|
|
 |
|
 |
 |
