Pyramids of Elysium on Mars
The Elysium "pyramids" are a series of formations found in the Cydonia region of Mars that resemble artificial structures. The nature of these formations has been debated since their discovery in the late 1970s.
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History
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In the late 1970s, Vincent DiPietro and Gregory Molenaar examined photos taken by Mariner 9 in 1971 and Viking 1 in 1976. The pictures depicted the giant formation called the "face" and several angular structures which they considered artificial because they looked geometrically regular.
Features
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The pyramids form a loose arc just to the north of the structure known as the "face on Mars". They have three to five sides and are about 500 meters tall.
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Theories/Speculation
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The Cydonian Hypothesis proposed by DiPietro and Molenaar suggests that Mars once had a climate similar enough to Earth for an advanced civilization to arise and build structures such as pyramids. This theory is championed by conspiracy theorist Richard C. Hoagland who claims that NASA has covered up the evidence of this civilization.
Criticisms
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Critics of the Cydonian Hypothesis dismiss it as a mixture of wishful thinking and bad science. For instance, Keith Fitzpatrick-Matthews and James Doeser, archaeologists who founded the website "Bad Archaeology," point out that the supposed geometric evidence that the pyramids are artificial constructs is based on poor examinations of the photos and faulty math. Astronomer Philip Plait considers the famous "face on Mars" the result of "pareidolia", the phenomenon that makes people see shapes in the clouds.
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References
- Photo Credit Mars Background image by Dan Collier from Fotolia.com
