Post
by chiaroscuro » Tue Sep 26, 2006 10:04 am
Hiya all, another new member here.
I love APOD - it's the first site I look at every day - and I have saved many to use for wallpaper on my desktop. I'm not an astronomer, and don't even own a telescope because I've always lived in areas where it's too light polluted to use one to any degree.
I saw the original picture of the "face on Mars" in the '70's, and was fascinated. Being a sci-fi fan, it sent all kind of ideas through my feeble brain "wow - could it be a ..." I even bought the book by Hoagland that came out shortly thereafter, and was disappointed by his ridiculous ideas. Too bad he got fame and fortune from spewing that BS.
But the thing was, it REALLY looked like a face in those early pix - this can't be denied. I like to keep an open mind about these things, so I didn't discount the fact that it may be a monument (I want to believe, like in the X-files), but also realized that it could have been a matter of "light and shadow".
Well Kudos to ESA for clearing this up, although I may be a little disappointed... But there are plenty more really amazing photos on APOD to keep me in wonder.
Well there are many threads to explore here, and I hope I can contribute to some in the future.
jim
PS - I wonder if G. Neukum's nickname is "DUKE"?