The Faces on Mars 1976 Viking1, click for the new MRO image. All images credit: NASA/MSSS

The face on Mars the conspiracy theorists pointed to as some cover-up is no more.  The HiRiSE camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter took a close in hi-res image of the same location and it looks totally different.

Back in 1976 when the Viking1 took images looking for a good landing spot for Viking2 NASA said “it’s just a mesa”.  Oh no, the conspiracy groups were hot on it, gotta love ‘em though – they’re colorful and nobody really takes them seriously.

The image above is the Viking1 image and if you click it you will get to see the new one from the MRO.  To see the Viking one image with NASA caption – click here.  To see the MRO image and image data -  click here.

This isn’t the first photographic proof the “faces are really nothing” and this isn’t even my favorite.  This one is, taken back in 2001 by the Mars Global Surveyor.

Note: We are hearing all over the news about the stupendous northern (and southern) lights that will be coming our way tonight and tomorrow night.  Turns out there were two CME’s and there is indeed a possibility of a major geomagnetic storm, more likely we will see minor storm conditions, so yes we will see the aurora (if the darned clouds go away), but how far south they will be visible is hard to say.

So far we have no unusual activity, but that is going to change rather suddenly.  Keep an eye on this chart, it updates every three hours and when the top graph lines go to red (indicating a value of 5 or 6) we are in conditions favorable for the Aurora.  Around here, a value of 6 is pretty much a sure sign I can see the aurora (at 43 N latitude).  If the chart goes to a blue bar, go outside and look because who knows you could see them even if you are south of 43 N or north of 43 S latitude you might see them.  Up here, an value of 7 to 9 will make the lights horizon to horizon and bright.