The slopes of Hale Crater showing running water in a pseudocolor image created from (Infrared-Red-Blue/Green(IRB)) data. From NAS/JPL/Univ. Arizona and in the public domain.

When our petty conflicts, the meanness of our times, the prejudice, and the hate are all long forgotten. Figure 1, one of many images from the Mars Orbiter that were released this year and definitively demonstrated liquid water flowing on Mars will be remembered, and if we are lucky (for it is more than we deserve) it will shed us in a brighter light.

Mars and the possibility of life there has long intrigued mankind. Finding water there must be the first step, and this was a huge leap in our understanding. At first glance it may seem unreasonable to allow into our list an image taken by robot eyes. But let me point out two things. First, it is as if the entirety of mankind pushed the button that took this image – it is not merely the work of a computer program. And second, the choice of composition and color made by the scientists that compile these images most certainly betrays a major component of human aesthetics.

There are many images that compose the body of evidence. I have tried to choose one that is particularly beautiful. This image is in fact not a true photograph but what is referred to as a pseudocolor IRB image that combines image data from (Infrared-Red-Blue/Green(IRB) detectors. In pseudo color you have to choose what is referred to as a look-up-table or LUT and this is done both to most vividly reveal the differences between regions and to appeal to a very human aesthetic.