NASA Captures Images Of Crawling 'Spiders' On Mars

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NASA has shared a landscape view of a surface on Planet Mars that features what appears like crawling spiders.

Image of the Day

The image, which the U.S space agency posted as part of its Image of the Day series on Friday, was taken at the South Pole of the Red Planet on May 13.


The image shows a carbon ice cap that enveloped the region during the winter as the sun returns in the spring. It shows what appears like silhouettes of spiders emerging from the Martian surface.






Araneiform Terrain

These arachnid-like features, however, are not actual spiders. These features are what scientists call "araneiform terrain." The mounds form when carbon dioxide ice beneath the surface heats up and is released.


NASA said that the active seasonal process involved does not occur on Earth, but like dry ice on our planet, the carbon dioxide ice on Mars sublimates when it warms, causing it to change from solid to gas and become trapped below the surface.


How Araneiform Terrains Form On The Surface Of Planet Mars

The trapped carbon dioxide gas eventually builds up in pressure overtime and later becomes strong enough to break through the ice as a dust-spewing jet. The gas is then released into the atmosphere, but the darker dust may get deposited around the vent or winds may transport it to produce streaks. The loss of the sublimated carbon dioxide results in the spider-like features in the surface.

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