Cydonia
Image Title: Cydonia
Release Date: August 22, 2005
Source: Mars Global Surveyor
Description
My original idea was to title this piece "Cydonian Hide and Seek" but I finally settled for just plain "Cydonia." Why hide and seek? Well, can you find them? They are all here. The Face on Mars, the D&M Pyramid, the Cliff, the Tholus, the Fortress, the City Square. They are all found in the region of Mars shown in the picture above. Now to be fair, the image above has been substantially reduced in size. If you know where to look, they are visible in the image above. However, it is much easier to discern the features named above in the wallpaper version which is linked to at the end of this article.
While I have titled this image "Cydonia," it shows just one part of the Cydonia Mensae region of Mars. This area was named by Giovanni Schiaparelli, one of the greatest observers of Mars, in 1881 and is located within the Mare Acidalium quadrangle. The name Cydonia is the poetic name for Crete which according to mythology was founded by Kydon, a son of Minos. Mensae is a term that refers to an elevated region with a flat top.
Source Image Background
The source for this image was a Mars Global Surveyor Wide Angle Camera view taken using the red filter. The image was taken in April 1998. The image is centered approximately on 41° north latitude and 10° west longitude. The approximate area of the image is 160 kilometers wide by 220 kilometers tall.
Image Processing
All processing of the source MGS image was done using Adobe Photoshop. The colors are false and are only meant to serve as an artistic approximation. Artistic license was also used in the texturing and highlighting of various surface features to make them more prominent.
Downloads
I have created a low resolution version of Cydonia for use as a desktop wallpaper. Note that this wallpaper version is made available for your personal use only. It is not to be modified or redistributed in any form by any means. All rights are retained by the artist.
