text: The controllers back at the Jet Propulsion Lab were probably quite surprised when this face popped up on their screens, looking them right in the eyes. This sensation was short lived. Scientist figured it was just another Martian mesa, which was common around Cydonia. The only difference with this one is it had unusal shadows that made it seem like an Egyptian Pharaoh. A few days later NASA unveiled the image for the public eye to see. The caption on this picture was "Huge rock formation... which resembles a human head.... formed by shadows giving the illusion of eyes,nose and a mouth." NASA'S reasoning was that the picture would help engage public attraction to Mars.