The idea that there may be life on Mars has been around for centuries, but the theory got a dubious boost from recently released photos of the surface of Mars (taken by the NASA robot Spirit) apparently showing a human-like figure. Several Internet sites have glommed onto the image and suggested the figure could be alive. But what is it? Just a rock, astronomers say

NASA started it all back in 1976 with an image of an interesting mountain on Mars and a caption that described it as appearing to have eyes and nostrils. Thirty years later, the Face on Mars still inspires myths and conspiracy theories. New images from the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter will confirm for many that the features are natural, while no doubt offering tantalizing "clues" to others of an ancient intelligent civilization at work. The spacecraft's High Resolution Stereo Camera provides data the researchers turn into colorized perspective views, which simulate the scene as though you were flying high over the region in an aircraft. The data was obtained in July and the images released today.

Author George J. Haas will speak at the Lakewood branch of the Ocean County Library, 301 Lexington Ave., on Sept. 13, 2004 at 7 p.m. Haas is the author of “The Cydonia Codex, Reflections from Mars" which is about the discovery of artificial structures on Mars.

Millions of amateur astronomers are poring over pictures of the Red Planet. Experience the thrill of discovery - or self-delusion - for yourself!

Several years ago, I noticed that a roadside electrical outlet looked like a face. So I photographed it. Later, I began to notice that ordinary items around my home - doorknobs, a bathtub drain - also seemed to have eyes, noses, and mouths. Once I started seeing such faces, I began to spot them everywhere! Was I going crazy? No, I was just seeing my world in a new way.

We’re back on Mars with Spirit and Opportunity roving the surface and engaging the public in the search for evidence of water. Overhead, orbiters image the surface in exquisite detail. People worldwide are attentive to Mars -- it can even be easily seen in the evening sky with the naked eye. All of this makes Mars the logical focus for teaching science as a part of current events, and for dealing with pseudoscientific claims about Mars.

When NASA announced recently that Mars once harbored the conditions necessary for life to exist, those of us who live in the Yucatan -- especially the Maya -- let out a collective groan. We fear another crackpot invasion. Ever since Erich Von Daniken published his best-selling "The Chariots of the Gods" in 1968, many misguided people around the world believe the Maya are the descendants of ancient space travelers. And so they flock here, usually to poke around Mayan ruins looking for telltale signs of alien visitation.

Astronomer Philip Plait is tired of radio personality Richard Hoagland's claims. He's had enough of Hoagland's assertions that NASA is covering up evidence of extraterrestrial life, that the infamous Face on Mars was built by sentient aliens and, of late, that otherworldly machine parts are embedded in the red planet's dirt. And then there's the mile-long translucent Martian worm.

Perhaps our next Mars probe should be called the Tinkerbell. The fairy from "Peter Pan" was brought to life by children shouting, "I do believe in fairies! I do! I do!" The same chorus of belief in Martians resounds with each downpour of images and data from the apparently dead Red Planet. The photos sent home by the rovers Spirit and Opportunity have already set off a flurry of Internet chatter amongst amateur space enthusiasts. Would be astrobiologists (a new field that weds astronomy with biology) claim to see everything from fossilized coral and seashells to an admittedly creepy looking claw. The European Space Agency's orbiting Mars Express has produced an image to fire speculation too -- a grainy object that some identify as a stepped pyramid with an underground entrance.

US space scientists have defended themselves against allegations that they tampered with images of Mars. The claim is that Nasa experts "tweaked" pictures sent back by the two Mars rovers to make it redder. A more extreme version of the conspiracy theory says Nasa doctored the colours to hide evidence of life, such as green patches, New Scientist magazine reported.

Under the surface of Mars lies an ancient, nuclear-powered city left by Martian citizens. At least, that's what a group of space researchers think. And they're trying to prove it by invoking a little-known remnant of President Clinton's last days called the "Data Quality Act" that went into force in October of this year. The filing, dated October 31, 2002, gives NASA 40 days to address the complaint that there is faulty data on Arizona State University's THEMIS Web site.

In their rush to release the first night-time infrared image of Cydonia, did NASA shoot themselves in the foot regarding previous releases? Sitting next to the Oct 31st release of Cydonia is proof that the July 24th release was fraudulent.

The face on Mars has been spotted again, this time in a nighttime infrared image that tells a bit more about its mysterious geological origins. The "face" is actually a three-kilometer long knob of sediments in the northern Cydonia region that is littered with similar knobs and mesas, said Arizona State University's Philip Christensen, who led the investigation into the new thermal images from the Mars Odyssey spacecraft. But that doesn't mean the features aren't important.

A new scale designed to give the public an expert view of any claimed detection of extraterrestrial intelligence has been launched by the International Academy of Astronautics' Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Permanent Study Group at the World Space Congress in Houston. The Rio Scale was initiated by Drs. Ivan Almar of Hungary and Jill Tarter of the SETI Institute in California to give the media and the public an idea of the credibility and importance - as determined by a panel of SETI scientists - of any claim that intelligence elsewhere in the universe has been detected.

Richard Hoagland's Enterprise Mission recently retrieved amazing daytime Infra Red images of the Cydonian plains from the Themis website. What is more amazing is that without any enhancement this data was riddled with what appeared to be a series of rectilinear formations just beneath the permafrost. These formations vary in shape and size but seem to follow a grid like pattern throughout Cydonia and have all the earmarks of an intelligently designed "city". Was this finally the vindicating proof that Richard C Hoagland had spent his life searching for?