Arachnophobes can rest easy - new ESA satellite images showing clusters of black spiders on Mars actually reveal a seasonal phenomenon familiar to the planet.
Dark funnel-shaped formations were spotted in the city of Inca (southern polar region of Mars) by the Mars Express orbiter and the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter spacecraft. In reality, the "black spiders" are channels ranging from 45 meters to 1 km in length that form on the planet during the Martian spring and the thawing of frozen carbon dioxide gas.
Gas from the lower layers expands and rises, bursting at the top and carrying dark dust - these geysers, before settling, create a cracked pattern resembling spiders. According to ESA, in some places the geysers break through ice up to 1 meter thick.
The city of Inca, also known as Angustus Labyrinthus, contains numerous linear ridges resembling ruins - it was believed to be fossilized sand dunes or remnants of ancient Martian glaciers that, as they retreated, could leave high sediment walls.
However, in 2002, the Mars Orbiter spacecraft discovered that the region is actually part of a circular structure approximately 86 km wide - essentially an old impact crater, indicating that the geometric ridges may be magmatic intrusions that rose through the cracked, heated crust of Mars after the impact of a cosmic rock. The crater was then filled with sediment, which has since eroded, partially revealing magmatic formations resembling ancient ruins.
Source: livescience
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