Current:Home > ScamsFastexy Exchange|A rover captures images of 'spiders' on Mars in Inca City. But what is it, really? -Excel Wealth Summit
Fastexy Exchange|A rover captures images of 'spiders' on Mars in Inca City. But what is it, really?
Chainkeen View
Date:2025-04-09 21:28:28
One look at recent images released by the European Space Agency may cause you to wonder if spiders are Fastexy Exchangeon the cusp of bursting forth onto the Martian surface.
But arachnophobes have nothing to fear, even if the Mars rover images appear to suggest that the Red Planet has succumbed to an infestation of creepy crawlies. Rather, a strange chemical reaction recently captured by European Space Agency probes is to blame for the spider-like feature spotted at a formation known as Inca City in Mars' southern polar region.
As the ESA explained, the images comprised of data gathered Feb. 27 by the Mars Express orbiter show clustered dots that formed due to seasonal eruptions of carbon dioxide gas.
It's just the latest instance in which this distinctive phenomenon has been documented. ESA's ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter has also captured visual evidence of the spidering effect, as has NASA.
Here's what to know about it.
What to know about SLIM:Japan's lunar lander still powers away 3 months later
What are the 'spider' formations really?
The features known as "spiders" form when the weather starts to warm during the Martian springtime.
As the sunshine falls on layers of carbon dioxide deposited over the dark winter months, the ice begins to melt and the warmth causes the lowest layers of ice to turn to gas. The carbon dioxide gas warms and builds up before eventually breaking through slabs of overlying ice, dragging dark dust with it to the surface that shatters through like a geyser.
When the dust settles back down, it etches patterns into the surface and beneath the ice that manifest as dark blotches resembling the spindly legs and bodies of spiders.
The process is unlike anything seen on Earth.
ESA's Mars Express rover captures latest sign of 'spiders'
The latest images of the formations, which are channels of gas measuring 0.03 to 0.6 miles across, were most recently captured by ESA's Mars Express rover, which arrived at the planet in 2003.
The formation of dark spots indicating the presence of "spiders" was spotted in Inca City, a region nicknamed for its resemblance to the Inca Ruins of Earth.
Another of ESA’s Mars explorers, the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO), has previously imaged the spiders’ tendril-like patterns especially clearly in 2020 in a nearby region. While the Mars Express view shows the dark spots on the surface, the TGO perspective captured the web-like channels carved into the ice below.
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter also captured images in 2018 showing the "spiders" beginning to emerge from the landscape.
In the Mars Express image, the dark spots can be seen creeping across the towering hills and expansive plateaus of the mysterious Inca City discovered in 1972 by NASA’s Mariner 9 probe. While scientists aren't exactly sure how the ridges and walls formations of Inca City came to be, it's theorized to be the remnants of sand dunes turned to stone.
In 2002, NASA's Mars Orbiter revealed that Inca City is part of a large circle approximately 53 miles wide – suggesting the formation is the result of a space rock crashing into the surface and creating a crater. Faults that rippled through the surrounding plain could have filled with rising lava that has since worn away, revealing a formation resembling ancient ruins.
Eric Lagatta covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him at [email protected]
veryGood! (8)
Related
- Former Syrian official arrested in California who oversaw prison charged with torture
- Oil or Water? Midland Says Disposal Wells Could Threaten Water Supply
- Illinois man dies after being fatally shot in face by fellow hunter, authorities say
- Florida-bound passenger saw plane was missing window thousands of feet in the air, U.K. investigators say
- What do we know about the mysterious drones reported flying over New Jersey?
- The APEC summit is happening this week in San Francisco. What is APEC, anyway?
- Travis Kelce Is Taylor Swift's Biggest Fan at Argentina Eras Tour Concert
- Christian McCaffrey's record-tying TD streak ends at 17 games as 49ers rout Jaguars
- San Francisco names street for Associated Press photographer who captured the iconic Iwo Jima photo
- How the memory and legacy of a fallen Army sergeant lives on through his family
Ranking
- Trump suggestion that Egypt, Jordan absorb Palestinians from Gaza draws rejections, confusion
- Los Angeles motorists urged to take public transport after massive fire closes interstate
- Boise State fires coach Andy Avalos amid third straight season with at least four losses
- Draymond Green curiously ejected after squabble with Cavaliers' Donovan Mitchell
- Alex Murdaugh’s murder appeal cites biased clerk and prejudicial evidence
- 5 US service members die when helicopter crashes in Mediterranean training accident
- Vatican monastery that served as Pope Benedict XVI’s retirement home gets new tenants
- Oil or Water? Midland Says Disposal Wells Could Threaten Water Supply
Recommendation
EU countries double down on a halt to Syrian asylum claims but will not yet send people back
Pope Francis removes critic and firebrand Texas Bishop Joseph Strickland from diocese
What they want: Biden and Xi are looking for clarity in an increasingly difficult relationship
Boise State fires coach Andy Avalos amid third straight season with at least four losses
Louvre will undergo expansion and restoration project, Macron says
'Barbie' movie soundtrack earns 11 Grammy nominations, including Ryan Gosling's Ken song
Charity works to help military families whose relationships have been strained by service
Add another heat record to the pile: Earth is historically and alarmingly hot. Now what?