"Monolith" Object on Mars

[carstensdj]

http://www.space.com/15244-monolith-mars-2001-space-odyssey.html

Amateur stargazers have discovered an intriguing object jutting out from the surface of Mars. The seemingly perfectly rectangular, upright structure, found in NASA images of the Red Planet, bears a striking resemblance to the monoliths planted on Earth and the moon by aliens in the classic sci-fi film "2001: A Space Odyssey."

The object in question was first spotted several years ago after being photographed by the HiRISE camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, a NASA space probe; every so often, it garners renewed interest on the Internet. But is it unnatural — a beacon erected by aliens for mysterious reasons, and even more mysteriously paralleled in the imaginations of Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke, creators of "2001"? Or is this rock the work of nature?

According to Jonathon Hill, a research technician and mission planner at the Mars Space Flight Facility at Arizona State University, who processes many of the images taken during NASA's Mars missions, the object in question is no more than a roughly rectangular boulder.

The HiRISE camera that photographed it has a resolution of approximately 1 foot (30 centimeters) per pixel — impressive considering the 180-mile (300-kilometer) altitude from which it photographs the Martian surface, but not quite sharp enough to capture the cragginess of a mid-size boulder. "When your resolution is too low to fully resolve an object, it tends to look rectangular because the pixels in the image are squares. Any curve will look like a series of straight lines if you reduce your resolution enough," Hill told Life's Little Mysteries.

The location of the boulder at the bottom of a cliff near many other boulders suggests it broke off the cliff and tumbled to its current spot sometime in the distant past, Hill said. Such a perilous location is itself an argument against deliberate placement by aliens: "If I was going to build a monolith somewhere, that's the last place I would put it!" he said. "The debris falling from the cliff would cover it up pretty quickly, on geologic timescales." [Vote: Do You Believe in Life on Mars?]

Hill added that the height of the boulder is being exaggerated in the photo by a low sun angle. Photographed when the sun was near the horizon, the boulder casts an especially long shadow.

The ufologists aren't necessarily wrong in calling it a monolith — the word simply translates from Latin as "one stone." But this monolith isn't the masonry of Martians.

Pic of 'Monolith'

 

[AstroTurf]

Jonathon Hill does not want us to know about our overlords martian outpost.

 

[Rands]

should give that pic to the CSI guys, they will sharpen it up so we can see the serial number of thet monolith

 

[abandonallhope]

The universe is simply too mind blowingly endlessly big for no other monoliths to exist elsewhere ...

 

[carstensdj]

should give that pic to the CSI guys, they will sharpen it up so we can see the serial number of thet monolith

LOL

 

[Mike Hoxbig]

It's directions to the nearest Mass Relay!!!

 

[DigitalSoldier]

should give that pic to the CSI guys, they will sharpen it up so we can see the serial number of thet monolith

What serial number ? It will only say: 'Made in China'

 

[Ninja'd]

Either 2 things will happen now. Those tiny life forms will get a boost in intelligence or Mars will become a mini star.

 

[Fudzy]

I hope they send the next rover to check it out.

 

[juBa]

should give that pic to the CSI guys, they will sharpen it up so we can see the serial number of thet monolith

HAHAHA

 

[Devill]

John Cater's Summer home

 

[waynegohl]

The Face at Cydonia and the other pyramid like structures, have they ever sent a robot to that area?

 

[Devill]

The Face at Cydonia and the other pyramid like structures, have they ever sent a robot to that area?

Not that I know of.

 

[waynegohl]

Not that I know of.

If there was something there, I wonder if they would send a probe to check it out and report back or just ignore it and say it was a trick of the light or actually take a look see and not report it because they had found something.

 

[carstensdj]

If there was something there, I wonder if they would send a probe to check it out and report back or just ignore it and say it was a trick of the light or actually take a look see and not report it because they had found something.

Thats my problem with America heading up things like this... they have this NEED to keep information to themselves and distort truths so that the public never quite knows...

 

[waynegohl]

Then you have to wonder if the guys at wikileaks and Anonymous have ever hacked a server containing info of something explosive like first contact or evidence of ET and if they have not why don't they.

 

[Devill]

If there was something there, I wonder if they would send a probe to check it out and report back or just ignore it and say it was a trick of the light or actually take a look see and not report it because they had found something.

Billions of $$$ for a maybe will not be spent atm with the economy as it is

Science and the like is always bottom of the food chain

 

[waynegohl]

Yeah they do cut funding for projects that might or might not return any positive results but let someone do research on how fast ear hair grows in a day and they will pump millions into that.

 

[Elimentals]

/waves hand

This is not the Monolith you are looking for....


reminds me of the whole face on Mars ordeal... one pic and people go ape about it, till we look closer, then its all meh.

 

[grok]

If there was something there, I wonder if they would send a probe to check it out and report back or just ignore it and say it was a trick of the light or actually take a look see and not report it because they had found something.

Knowing America they will send probes & investigate but deny they ever believed such a thing existed in the first place.