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Medieval Map of Mars is Hand-Drawn and Insanely Detailed

If Don Quixote ever pulls a Mark Watney and gets stuck on the Red Planet, this is how we’re going to find him.

Eleanor Lutz, the crazy talented designer and illustrator behind the science-themed art and infographic blog Tabletop Whale has finally released her latest creation: a medieval map of Mars (which you can check out in full in the image gallery below). And it looks exactly like the kind of map where X could mark the spot…maybe the treasure is liquid water.

For the style, Lutz says she was inspired by “old maps made by medieval explorers… [and] thought it would be fun to use their historical design style to illustrate our current adventures into unexplored territory.” On top of the detailed illustration, Lutz also provides the names for what looks to be hundreds of craters, as well as landmark names and rover landing sites.

Above: the largest crater in the picture is named after 17th century Italian astronomer and engineer, Giovanni Cassini. Also, Acidalia Planitia, the landing site of the fictional Ares 3 Mission in The Martian.

Lutz has also stamped out in red where humanity’s rovers have landed, including whether or not the landing was successful, and the year of the attempt.

Medieval-Map-Close-Up-2-02292016In the upper left-hand corner of the map: Lutz has stamped out, among others, the landing site of Viking 1, the first spacecraft to successfully land and operate on Mars.

If you’re excited to have what looks like a Martian treasure map on your wall, or believe you may need to track down a chivalrous astronaut in the future, you can purchase the medieval Mars map—on a coffee mug or backpack or laptop sleeve or even leggings—here. And if you haven’t seen the rest of Lutz’s work, check it out. Her infographics are simply out of this world.

What do you think about Lutz’s medieval Mars map? Chart your opinions in the comments section hither.

Images: Tabletop Whale

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