\'Mars Face\' camera shy in latest image of formation

PASADENA, Calif. — The "Mars Face" got its picture snapped for the first time in two decades and guess what? It\'s a face-off.The formation in the image beamed back to Earth from the Mars Global Surveyor and released Monday looks like everything from a sandal print to a stuffed chili pepper — everything, that is, but a face."It\'s a butte, a mesa, a knob," said Michael Ravine, advanced projects manager at Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego, which operates Surveyor\'s camera.The "Face" was photographed more than 20 years ago and has taken on a life of its own since images of the shadowy, gape-mouthed visage were popularized.While mainstream scientists say the image is a trick of light and shadow on natural features, believers say it may be part of an ancient city on Mars.But under the scrutiny of the modern camera, the gape-mouthed "Face" with empty eye sockets seen in images from a 1976 Viking mission is gone.The chief proponent of the "Face" view, Richard Hoaglund, charged that too much data had been stripped from the image in enhancing it and the result was of too poor quality to draw any conclusions.