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Viking 1

The Face on Mars

November 8, 2026November 8, 2026 by Tommy Hayes
The 1976 Viking 1 image of the Cydonia mesa on Mars whose shadows resemble a human face

About 5 min readIn 1976 a Viking orbiter photographed a Martian mesa that looked uncannily like a human face, and the image launched a thousand theories. Sharper cameras returned over the next thirty years and the face was gone — a trick of light and shadow, and the verdict is: explained.

Categories Explained at Last Tags Cydonia, Established, Explained, Face on Mars, Mars, pareidolia, Viking 1 Leave a comment

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Mysteries is an archive of phenomena that still lack a settled explanation. We tell these stories with evidence first: what was seen, what was recorded, what can be checked, and what remains unknown.

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