The other day, in one of the images of the Curiosity rover, which NASA published on its official website, ufologists discovered a silhouette resembling the figure of a woman.
Let's take a closer look at this and other similar cases.
Ghost Woman
The silhouette looks so believable that for some it may be the embodiment of the desire to find extraterrestrial life. The picture is complemented by the fact that the “ghost” seems to be standing on a stone, demanding attention.
Yeti
The legendary discovery of the Mars rover Spirit. A photograph from 2008, which shows the silhouette of a creature seemingly wandering through the red desert. Due to the fact that his pose was reminiscent of the famous frame where Bigfoot was allegedly captured, the mysterious stranger was nicknamed the “Martian Yeti.”
Alien Temple
A photo from the 2008 Opportunity rover, in which the layered rock reminded ufologists of the creation of human (or alien) hands. The hoaxers suggested that the footage captured the entrance to a destroyed temple with a large monument welcoming visitors. Nearby, a “Martian ship” was found buried in the sand. 
Trees
A 2011 image taken by the Reconnassance Orbiter space station, for which there is a fairly simple scientific explanation. Firstly, if these were trees, then, judging by the image, they would grow parallel to the surface of the planet. Secondly, such marks on the sand are the result of the evaporation of frozen carbon dioxide. 
Temple-face
A legendary photo that excited people's minds in the late seventies and early eighties. Then many decided that a certain civilization had built a temple in the shape of a human face on Mars.
Giant smiley
In 1976, the Viking Orbiter 1 spacecraft discovered a giant “smiley face” on Mars. In 1999, with clearer footage, scientists were able to take a closer look at it. We are talking about a crater with a radius of 230 kilometers. The find was later used in the famous comic book "Watchmen".
Ball
In September 2014, the Curiosity rover sent back a picture of a flawless-looking ball lying on the surface of the planet. However, NASA quickly cooled the ardor of ufologists: the size of the “artifact” is about one centimeter in diameter, and it was most likely the result of a geological process called nodule. During it, something like a snowball forms around some small solid body.
Little helmet, bone and Martian rat
No, they're just rocks. 
Flash Light
A Curiosity image taken in April 2014 gave ufologists reason to assume that aliens accidentally revealed themselves with a flash in the dark. However, NASA scientist Doug Ellison dispelled the myth, suggesting that it could be an impact from a cosmic ray - a stream of charged particles.
Drawing on the ground
The only true man-made artifact on Mars are the footprints left by the Curiosity rover. 
Just a couple of days ago, in one of the photographs, a mysterious find, a “Martian crab,” was again discovered. These photos, posted on the official NASA website, spread across all media and other sources of information and caused a lot of controversy. We present you a video about this photo.
Graham Hancock, Robert Bauval, John Grigsby
Secrets of Mars
The main goal of "Secrets of Mars" is to attract the attention of readers to the discoveries of scientists around the world concerning Martian anomalies and the extremely serious and urgent issue of planetary cataclysms. Without the persistent, innovative efforts of these scientists, we could not have written this book. We have tried to do justice to their work, illuminating it in their own words whenever possible, but we have drawn the comprehensive conclusions ourselves. Our role was to synthesize, connect data and evidence collected from various areas of research. Only as we began to put together the pieces of the composite picture-riddle did we ourselves begin to realize the larger overall picture and the alarming implications that flow from it, not only for the Earth’s past, but also for its future.
We express our gratitude to Chris O'Kane from the Mars Project UK and Simon Cox for bibliographic and documentary research for our team, and our special thanks to Dr Benny Peyser from Liverpool John Moores University, who kindly made his personal library available to us.
KILLED PLANET
A PARALLEL WORLD
Even though separated by tens of millions of miles of empty space, Mars and Earth share a mysterious connection.
There have been multiple exchanges of materials between the two planets - the most recent involving spacecraft from Earth landing on Mars since the early 70s. Today we also know that rock fragments ejected from the surface of Mars periodically crash into the Earth. By 1997, more than a dozen meteorites had been identified as being of Martian origin based on their chemical composition. They were united by the working term “SNC meteorites” (after the names given to the first three meteorites found - “Sher-gotti”, “Nakla” and “Chassigny”). Scientists are looking for such meteorites all over the world. According to the calculations of Dr. Colin Pillinger from the British Institute for Planetary Science Research, “a hundred tons of Martian material fall on Earth every year.”
One of the Martian meteorites, ALH84001, was found in 1984 in Antarctica. It contains tubular structures that NASA scientists sensationally announced in August 1996 as "possible microscopic fossils of bacteria-like organisms that may have lived on Mars more than 3.6 billion years ago." In October 1996, scientists at Britain's Open University announced that the second Martian meteorite EETA7901 also contained chemical traces of life - in this case, amazingly, "organisms that may have existed on Mars as little as 600,000 years ago."
SEED OF LIFE
In 1996, NASA launched two robotic research stations - the Mars Pathfinder lander and the Mars Surveyor orbital station. Future missions are already being funded until 2005, when an attempt will be made to sample the surface rock or soil of Mars and return the sample to Earth. Russia and Japan are also launching their stations to Mars to conduct a series of scientific research and experiments.
In the long term, it is planned to “earth” the red planet. This task involves transporting greenhouse gases and protozoan bacteria from Earth. Over the centuries, the heating effects of gases and metabolic processes in bacteria should transform the Martian atmosphere, making it habitable for increasingly complex species, whether brought in from outside or evolved locally.
How likely is it that humanity will fulfill this plan to “seed” Mars with life?
At first glance, it all comes down to financing. The technology already exists to implement this plan. The irony is that the existence of life on Earth itself continues to be one of the greatest unsolved scientific mysteries. No one knows when, why or how life began on Earth. It was as if it had arisen as a result of a sudden explosion. It is believed that the Earth itself was formed 4.5 billion years ago, and the oldest rocks that have reached us are younger - about 4 billion years old. Traces of microscopic organisms can only be traced back to 3.9 billion years ago.
This transformation of inanimate matter into living matter is a miracle that has never been repeated since then, and cannot be repeated even by the most equipped scientific laboratories. Are we to believe that such an amazing process of cosmic alchemy could have happened by chance only in the first few hundred million years of the Earth's long existence?
SOME OPINIONS
Cambridge University professor Fred Hoyle thinks differently. He explains the appearance of life on Earth shortly after the formation of the planet by the fact that it was “imported” into the Solar System from outside by large interstellar comets. Their fragments collided with the Earth, releasing the supports that were in a state of slowed down activity in the ice of the comets. The spores spread and took root throughout the newly formed planet, which was soon densely populated by frost-resistant microorganisms. They slowly evolved and diversified, giving rise to a huge number of life forms known today.
An alternative and more radical theory, supported by a number of scientists, argues that the Earth was deliberately "earthed" 3.9 billion years ago, just as we are now preparing to "earth" Mars. This theory suggests the existence of an advanced galactic civilization, or rather many such civilizations scattered throughout the universe.
Many scientists see no need for either comets or aliens. According to their theory, supported by the majority, life on Earth arose by chance, without any outside intervention. Further, based on widely accepted calculations of the size and composition of the universe, they argue that there are likely to be hundreds of millions of Earth-like planets scattered randomly across billions of light-years of interstellar space. They point out the improbability that, of the many suitable planets, life evolved only on Earth.
WHY NOT ON MARS?
In our own solar system, the first planet from the sun—tiny, bubbling Mercury—is considered inhospitable to every form of life imaginable. Like Venus, the second planet from the Sun, where concentrated sulfuric acid pours from poisonous clouds twenty-four hours a day. Earth is the third planet from the Sun. The fourth, Mars, is undoubtedly the most “Earth-like” planet in the solar system. Its axis is tilted at an angle of 24.935 degrees to the plane of its orbit around the Sun (Earth's axial tilt is 23.5 degrees). The period of its rotation around its axis is 24 hours 39 minutes 36 seconds (Earth’s is 23 hours 56 minutes 5 seconds). Like the Earth, it is subject to a cyclic axial “wobble” that astronomers call precession. Like the Earth, it is not a perfect sphere, but is somewhat flattened at the poles and swells somewhat at the equator. Like Earth, it has four seasons. Like Earth, it has polar ice caps, mountains, deserts and dust storms. And although today Mars is a frozen hell, there is evidence that in ancient times it was animated by oceans and rivers, and its climate and atmosphere were very similar to those of Earth.
Ancient Chinese astronomers called Mars the "Fire Star," and scientists will be burning with curiosity about certain things about the Red Planet for a long time to come. Even after dozens of spacecraft were sent to Mars for research, many questions remained unanswered.
Why does Mars have two “faces”?
Scientists have been puzzled by the difference between the two sides of Mars for decades. The planet's northern hemisphere is smooth and low - it is one of the smoothest and flattest places on the planets of the solar system. It could potentially be formed by water that once splashed on the Martian surface. At the same time, the southern half of Mars is uneven and all riddled with craters. It is about 4-8 kilometers higher than the northern part. Recent research suggests that such differences between the southern and northern sides of the planet could be associated with a giant cosmic body that may have fallen onto the surface of Mars long ago.
What is the source of methane on Mars?
Methane, the simplest organic molecule, was first discovered in the atmosphere of Mars by the European Space Agency's Mars Express spacecraft back in 2003. On Earth, most methane is produced by living organisms, such as cattle digesting food. Methane is thought to be stable in the Martian atmosphere for only 300 years, but who or what could have generated the gas so recently remains a mystery.
Still, there are ways to form methane without the participation of living organisms, for example, volcanic activity. The European Space Agency's new ExoMars program, launching in 2016, will study the chemistry of Mars' atmosphere so scientists can learn more about Martian methane.
Is there liquid water on Mars?
Although a large body of evidence indicates that Mars once had liquid water, whether it exists today remains a mystery. Atmospheric pressure on Mars is very low, about 100 times less than the pressure on Earth, so liquid water is unlikely to survive on the surface of the Red Planet. However, the dark, long lines we can see on the surface of Mars hint that salty streams of water may flow along them every spring.
Were there oceans on Mars?
A large number of Mars missions have shown that Mars has many signs that water once splashed on the surface of the planet. It's very likely that there were oceans, networks of valleys, river deltas, and minerals that could form water.
However, current models of the early Martian climate cannot explain how such high temperatures could exist on the planet to form liquid water, since the Sun warms the surface of the planet much less. Perhaps some of the characteristic features of the surface could have been formed not by water, but by winds or other mechanisms? However, everything indicates that ancient Mars was still warm, and there could have been water on its surface, at least on one side. However, some scientists argue that ancient Mars was cold but wet, although this theory continues to be disputed.
Is there life on Mars?
The first spacecraft to successfully land on the surface of Mars - NASA's Viking 1 - was the first to try to uncover the mystery of whether there is life on the Red Planet, but the answer to this question has still not been received. Today this question worries Mars researchers all over the world. Viking was able to detect organic molecules such as methyl chloride and dichloromethane. However, it later turned out that these were terrestrial impurities that were part of the cleaning fluids during the preparation of the apparatus on Earth.
The surface of Mars is quite suitable for the appearance of life on it, as far as we know, since there are appropriate conditions here: suitable temperature, radiation, increased dryness and other factors. There are a huge number of examples when life appeared on Earth in even more severe conditions, for example, in the far north, in the dry soils of the Antarctic Dry Valleys and in the very dry Atacama Desert in Chile.
Where there is liquid water on Earth, there is life everywhere, so scientists believe that if there is water on Mars, there must certainly be life there. Once scientists answer the question of whether there is life on Mars, they will be able to shed light on a number of other questions that remain unanswered today, such as whether life may or may not have originated in other parts of the universe.
Did life come to Earth from Mars?
Meteorites that were discovered in Antarctica arrived on our planet from Mars. They broke off from the Red Planet during its collisions with other space objects. These meteorites have structures that resemble those created by Earth's microbes. Although many studies suggest that, most likely, these structures were obtained chemically, debate in the scientific world continues. Some researchers believe that life on Earth was brought from Mars a long time ago, and it could have been carried here by meteorites.
Can earthlings live on Mars?
To finally answer the question of whether there is life on Mars or not, a person can fly there and find out.
As early as 1969, NASA had plans to organize a mission to send a man to Mars by 1981, with the goal of establishing a permanent Mars station there by 1988. However, interplanetary travel with human participation turned out to be not such a simple task, both from a scientific and technical point of view.
For example, significant difficulties were: ensuring a supply of food, water, oxygen, eliminating the harmful effects of microgravity and radiation, reducing the likelihood of fires to zero, and so on. But the most important thing is that a person needs to be psychologically prepared for the fact that he will be far from Earth and from real help for many years. It is also difficult to imagine how one can organize landing, work, life on an alien planet and return from there back to Earth.
However, astronauts have long dreamed of such flights. For example, volunteers agreed to live on a spaceship for about a year. It was the longest spaceflight simulation ever developed, aiming to replicate on Earth what a mission to Mars might be like from start to finish.
There are a great many volunteers willing to go to Mars. Perhaps one day such a flight will become a reality.
In the second half of the 20th century, thanks to the successes of astronomy and unmanned astronautics, it became clear that developed life forms Mars no, and all the talk about the existence of an ancient civilization there is ordinary fantasy. And yet, the neighboring planet has presented scientists with many new mysteries that force them to turn to its distant past.
Mysterious rivers of Mars
Rivers cannot flow on Mars today. The reason is that, given the atmospheric pressure that prevails there, water boils at very low temperatures.
However, no other liquid could have formed the Martian channels that are visible from space, and the only possible explanation for their presence is the formation of rivers that flowed in the distant past. To do this, we must assume that in earlier eras the atmospheric pressure on Mars was much higher.
Is this possible? Yes, after all, Mars is the only planet where the substance of the polar caps coincides in composition with the main gas of the atmosphere - carbon dioxide. This means that if all the material in the polar caps of Mars is turned into steam, the pressure of its atmosphere will increase.
In the 1970s, several hypotheses were put forward to explain global climate change on Mars. For example, the original theory was proposed by the famous American astrophysicist Carl Sagan. Over the past 100,000 years, the Earth has experienced four periods of glaciation, interspersed with warm interglacial periods.
The most likely cause of alternating periods is a change in solar heat gain. Perhaps Mars is also susceptible to this effect, which, according to Sagan, is currently reduced.
Proof of his theory is the discovery on Mars of characteristic relief forms formed by glaciers: “hanging” valleys, sharp ridges, saddles. But the glaciers themselves are not visible, so it was concluded that such glaciations occurred in the distant past - during eras of more diverse climates.
Anomalous planet
However, the theory of the Martian ice age was soon replaced by the catastrophe theory, which claims that the neighboring planet was once similar to the Earth in everything, but died as a result of a collision with some large celestial body.
“Catastrophists” argue like this. Mars is an "anomalous" planet. It has an orbit with high eccentricity. It has almost no magnetic field. The axis of its rotation creates wild “pretzels” in space. Most impact craters on the surface of Mars are “crowded” south of the so-called dichotomy line, separating zones with characteristic relief.
The line itself is unusual and is marked by the escarpment of the mountainous southern hemisphere. There is another unique formation on Mars - a monstrous Canyon of the Valles Marineris 4,000 km long and 7 km deep.
The most remarkable thing: the deep and wide craters Hellas, Isis and Argir are “compensated” on the other side of the Martian ball by the bulges of Elysium and Tharsis, from the eastern edge of which Valles Marineris begins.
Canyon of the Valles Marineris
First of all, the “catastrophists” tried to explain the mystery of the planet’s dichotomy. A number of scientists have argued in favor of tectonic processes, but most agree with William Hartmann, who in January 1977 stated: “An impact of an asteroid a thousand kilometers across with a planet could produce significant asymmetry, perhaps knocking off the crust on one side of the planet... This kind The impact may have caused an asymmetry on Mars, with one hemisphere riddled with ancient craters and the other almost entirely altered by volcanic activity."
According to a popular hypothesis, in ancient times there was a small planetoid whose orbit passed between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter (in the very place where the main asteroid belt is now located) - it is called Astra. During its next approach to Mars, the planetoid was torn apart by gravitational forces, as a result of which several large fragments rushed towards the Sun.
The largest fragment that left behind the Hellas crater struck the Martian crust with a vertical direct blow. It punched through to the inner magma, causing a huge compression wave and shear waves. As a result, the Tharsis Hill began to swell on the opposite side.
At the same time, two more large fragments of Astra pierced the crust of Mars. The shock waves reached such a force that they not only ran around the planet, but also had to “pierce” it right through. Internal pressure sought a way out, and the dying planet burst at the seam - a monstrous cut was formed, which we now know as Valles Marineris. At the same time, Mars also lost part of its atmosphere, which was literally “ripped off” by a monstrous cataclysm.
When did the disaster happen? No answer. The only method for dating individual objects on the surface of neighboring planets involves counting impact craters on them based on the probability of collisions.
If we accept the assumption that a large number of fragments of a hypothetical Astra fell on the southern hemisphere of Mars at the same time, then the dating method through meteorite statistics loses its meaning. That is, the catastrophe could have occurred 3 billion years ago, or 300 million years ago.
Nuclear war on Mars
“Catastrophists,” when describing the death of Mars, usually proceed from the assumption that it was a natural process that is in no way connected with the activities of intelligent beings.
However, the authoritative American scientist John Brandenburg, holder of a doctorate from the University of California at Davis for his work in the field of cosmic plasma, put forward an extravagant theory according to which Mars died as a result of... large-scale wars using thermonuclear weapons.
The fact is that the Viking spacecraft, which worked on the neighboring planet in the 1970s, established an excess content of the light isotope xenon-129 compared to heavy isotopes in the local weak atmosphere, and yet, for example, in the earth’s air their proportions are approximately are equal. The data obtained were confirmed by the Curiosity rover.
The discovered light isotope could only be formed from radioactive iodine-129, which in turn has a relatively short half-life of 15.7 million years. Question: where did it come from in such significant quantities on modern Mars?
Scientists have not yet been able to find a clear explanation for the next Martian “anomaly.”
Therefore, speaking on March 1, 2015 at the Lunar and Planetary Conference in Houston, John Brandenburg gave his interpretation of the origin of xenon-129. The researcher noted that such an excess of the light isotope occurs during the fission of uranium-238 by fast neutrons and is common in those locations of the earth’s atmosphere where it was contaminated with the products of atomic tests.
The scientist also recalled the observations of the Mars Express spacecraft, which recorded from orbit the presence of dark deposits similar to volcanic glass, covering an area of 10 million km2, on the northern plains of the Red Planet. Moreover, the zones of these rocks coincide with the areas of maximum concentration of radioactive elements.
Brandenburg suggested that Mars Express had found nothing more than trinitite - nuclear glass, which appeared on Earth after testing the first atomic bomb in the Nevada desert.
In the official scientific report, John Brandenburg only stated the discovered facts, without trying to explain them, but in an interview with journalists he did not skimp on sensational statements.
Moreover, he published the book “Death on Mars. Discovery of planetary nuclear extermination,” in which he outlined his version of the ancient history of the neighboring planet. He believes that the climate on Mars was similar to that of Earth, there was an ocean, rivers and forests, and a civilization existed.
But at some point, two Martian races, the Sidonians and the Utopians, were subjected to thermonuclear bombardment by a third force. In this case, it is possible that Astra was not a random stray body, but an “Armageddon machine” that destroyed the planet in response to a destructive thermonuclear strike.
Groups of scientists studying Mars hastened to disown John Brandenburg’s theory, but the secrets of the neighboring planet will still have to be revealed someday, and we should expect new sensational news.
Anton PERVUSHIN
An Irkutsk scientist revealed the secrets of the Red Planet in his book
For some reason, the orange light of Mars from time immemorial made people think about wars, about shed blood, about cruelty. The ancients attributed to Mars a mystical influence on the course of earthly events. Astrologers today believe that when Mars is in a certain position towards the Earth, military clashes, accidents with casualties and other bloody disasters begin here. Medieval philosophers even identified a special type of physiognomy - the “man of Mars”. For some reason, it was believed that these people, with a large hooked nose, brown eyes and broken eyebrows, were capable of decisive actions and even crimes. “All this is nonsense,” says Sergei Yazev, director of the ISU Observatory, author of a book about Mars. “Today, any schoolchild will tell you that Mars is red because its surface is covered with magnetic sand made of oxidized iron.”
Strange sunbeams
Many astronomers have observed bright flashes on the surface of Mars, this has given food for imagination. The famous novel by H.G. Wells, “The Struggle of the Worlds,” begins with a description of these outbreaks. Modern studies of the Red Planet have proven that there is no struggle on Mars. And the flares turned out to be simple sunbeams. The sun's rays reflect off ice crystals in the clouds of Mars. These clouds condense over high mountains in Mars' thin carbon dioxide atmosphere. There is literally nothing to breathe here. Yes, and you can freeze to death.
It's very cold on Mars! Zero degrees only happens at noon, at the equator, and then very rarely - in the summer,” says Sergei Yazev. - Moreover, if on the ground it is zero degrees Celsius, then at a height of five centimeters it is already minus forty... The usual temperature for Mars is minus seventy, at night at the poles it can be minus 160-170 degrees. Liquid water cannot exist in such conditions at all. It turns either into steam or ice... What about water, even carbon dioxide turns into frost above the poles!
The planet Mars turned out to be extremely interesting, if only because there are no similar processes on Earth...
Robots on Mars
In his book, Sergei Yazev talked about thirty-six expeditions to Mars. Many of them ended in failure, others achieved their goal. One of the most successful robots, the American Mars rover Spirit, began sending the first color images of the planet to Earth approximately three hours after its landing on Mars in 2004. Everything they saw amazed the observers, accustomed to the fact that all previous devices sent images that were revealed gradually, line by line. Spirita's pictures were stunning.
The camera, mounted on the top of a 1.5-meter-high mast, provided the same high-quality image that a person standing on the surface of the planet would see. The rover showed the landscapes of the Gusev crater. It is a lifeless, rust-colored desert strewn with smooth stones. Why are the stones so round? It is believed that the cobblestones were polished by frequent Martian sandstorms. But maybe the water was at work here?
There are traces of water everywhere
American spacecraft, such as Opportunity and Viking, sent pictures of hematite to Earth. But this mineral is typical for reservoirs! Geologist Phil Kristinsen from the University of Arizona, studying the topography of Martian hematite, concluded: the mineral forms a thin, flat layer, which means that the Midday Plain on Mars (the area where the Opportunity rover operates today) could be the bottom of a lake.
“On Mars, traces of water are visible everywhere,” says Sergei Yazev, “these are not only dried-up basins of former lakes or seas, but many dried up river beds. You can trace where these rivers began, how they flowed and where they flowed. Only there is no liquid water on Mars - at low atmospheric pressure and at subzero temperatures, water on Mars should turn into either ice or steam.
Today, scientists already know that the climate on Mars changed dramatically billions of years ago. The cause of this climate catastrophe remains a mystery. This catastrophe destroyed the lakes, rivers and seas on Mars that splashed on the Red Planet in the distant past.
Was there life on Mars then?
“This has not yet been proven,” says Sergei Arkturovich. - But it is quite possible that it was so. What happened on Mars was a global shock. And who knows, solving the cause of this phenomenon will give us a chance to understand what awaits planet Earth in the future. After all, if changes occurred on Mars, where is the guarantee that this situation will not repeat here?
Giant Canyon
The thin Martian atmosphere does not protect the surface of the planet from either small meteorites or ultraviolet rays. By the way, some scientists believe that 3.8 billion years ago a giant meteorite crashed into Mars and a planetary catastrophe occurred, due to which the seas and rivers dried up.
“A monstrous canyon has been discovered on the Red Planet,” Sergei Yazev continues his story, “this scar on the body of the planet stretches for almost 4.5 thousand kilometers, and its depth is more than 10 kilometers. Compared to the giant Canyon Marineris on Mars, our Mariana Trench looks like just a dot. There is nothing like it on Earth. If such a canyon existed on Earth, it could split an entire continent in half.
Further studies of the Red Planet will show what the nature of this canyon is. The next Martian photo-reconnaissance satellite will arrive to Mars and begin its work in March 2006.
Heart or... another part of the body?
Astronomers joke that NASA's photograph of the Martian "heart" rather resembles another part of the body, consisting of two hemispheres. What this “heart” is in a geological sense is still unclear.
Gradually, we are still developing a more or less definite image of the planet,” says Sergei Yazev. - Since 1960, 36 attempts have been made to send spacecraft to Mars, of which less than ten were successful. Why are so many spacecraft being launched to Mars? First of all, because this is our neighbor in the solar system - it is relatively close. In addition, at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, many were confident that there was an intelligent civilization on this planet. When Percival Lovell "discovered" and even drew a map of Martian canals through a telescope, many people tried to look at these canals.
There were no canals on Mars, says the author of a book about Mars. - It was a banal optical illusion. Bad telescopes and the structural features of the human eye gave rise to the imagination to conjecture something that does not actually exist. Shooting from spacecraft showed that chains of craters and mountain ranges were taken for the channels.
But the famous image of a human face and two “hearts” clearly does not belong to optical illusions. One “heart” is located in the south polar region and is 255 meters across. The “Martian sphinx” or “face”, long known to lovers of the anomalous, is almost adjacent to another “heart”, more like another part of the body, well correlated in scale with the face. Fans of the idea of the existence of Martians are sure that these are sculptures. But modern images obtained from spacecraft show: this is just a play of nature, features of the relief. There are also many unusually shaped rocks on Earth, but no one believes that they were built by aliens...
The book, written by an Irkutsk scientist, will give answers to many questions that people have when looking at the orange luminous point called Mars. And perhaps a materialistic view of the nature of this planet will dispel all speculation and negative associations associated with this mysterious planet.
Dynasty of astronomers
Sergei Arcturovich Yazev is a hereditary astronomer. His mother, Kira Sergeevna Mansurova, graduated with honors from Moscow State University with a degree in astronomer. Candidate of physical and mathematical sciences, she was director of the ISU Astronomical Observatory from 1972 to 1989. Father, Arcturus Ivanovich Yazev, also a candidate of science and also an astronomer, worked all his life in the field of Irkutsk astronomy. The paternal grandfather, Ivan Naumovich Yazev, worked first at the Pulkovo Observatory, then at the Nikolaev Observatory, becoming a professor and teaching astronomy at Novosibirsk universities. In 1949 he moved to Irkutsk, was the head of the Department of Geodesy and Astronomy at Irkutsk State University and director of the observatory until his death in 1955. Sergey Yazev continues the family tradition. He is widely known not only as a scientist and teacher, but also as a popularizer of science. Mars has been his hobby since his school days.
How much does Mars weigh?
The average distance to the Sun is 227.9 million kilometers.
The diameter of the equator is 6794 kilometers.
Mass - 0.11 Earth masses.
Volume - 0.15 volume of the Earth.
The average surface temperature is minus 23 degrees Celsius.