"THE MOST PERPLEXING ANOMALIES OF MARS" > Page 1, 2
 NASA - Click photo for enlargement |
The curious formation seen here has been dubbed the Star City. It's a complex structure that some researchers say shows walls of artificial construction. More detailed photos can be found at Anomalous Images.
The structure is located on the Syrtis Major Planum area and is part of a large area of strange patterns, geometric objects and other curiosities that look for all the world like tubes and tunnels.
According to Star City - A Second Cydonia?, the structures most likely have a natural origin: "Large domes and tubes, volcanic in origin, cover the landscape, and several of the domes have partially collapsed, creating interesting structures. In many cases the uncollapsed parts are probably partially hollow and may provide a shelter from the extreme Martian environment."
Indeed, just because a feature looks artificial doesn't mean that it is. We are only beginning to understand Mars' climate, geology and processes. It is still hotly debated whether or not Mars ever had flowing water - and perhaps still does. Yet there are some features of this strange planet that are truly mystifying...
 NASA - Click photo for enlargement |
These are, without a doubt, the most fascinating objects yet photographed on the surface of Mars. They look like long translucent tubes supported by rows of bright arches. "A lot of people have seen these strange structures and have tried to speculate as to what they might be," says Jeffrey McCann at The Research Abyss. "Some would say these are huge water ducts funneling water from one area to another, others are firm in thinking that these are some sort of natural geological anomaly only occurring on Mars."
McCann and Joseph P. Skipper, both researchers into Martian anomalies, call this image "the real smoking gun as to life on Mars." The image was discovered in June, 2000 among the many images posted at the Malin Space Science Systems website, which has tens of thousands of Mars pictures available for online viewing and examination.
"These structures are actually in excellent condition," says Skipper in an article titled Dissecting The Mars 'Tubes' Anomaly, "where other antiquity anomalies on Mars are heavily eroded, allowing endless debate as to what they truly are, natural or constructs. Note their general uniformity and the uniform spacing of the bands or ridges. Note how one structure here clearly attaches to another and note the shiny round terminating end at the junction point clearly defining it as a constructed hard object as opposed to a natural geological formation of some kind. Note how at least one or more bands/ridges span around both structures tying them together at the junction point clearly demonstrating construction technique. Note the apparent translucent composition of these structures and how entirely alien they clearly are to the geology and topography they are embedded in. There can be no question that these are constructs of some kind. But, made by what or who and for what purpose?"
At Richard Hoagland's Enterprise Mission, Sir Arthur C. Clarke (author of 2001: A Space Odyssey) is quoted as remarking about the tubes: "I'm still waiting for an explanation of that extraordinary glass worm on... [Mars]... How big is it? It's one of the most incredible images that's ever come from space and there have been no [official] comments on it whatsoever!"
These are just some of the
anomalous features of our closest neighbor planet. And as we continue to receive
more data and pictures from Mars (the Mars
Odyssey orbiting probe is set to launch on April 7, 2001 and will arrive in
October, 2001), some of these mysteries may be resolved... but it's more likely
that many more will be opened. It may not be until we can place new rovers on
the planet (more unmanned rovers are planned for 2003 and 2005) or a manned
mission successfully lands there that we will begin to unravel the many
mysteries of Mars. 
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