Spiders on Mars? Inca City? For the uninitiated, this all sounds wildly far fetched and exciting.
Indeed, the satellite images from the ESA (European Space Agency) are stunning, and show what clearly look like black spiders emerging from the Red Planet’s surface.
The Inca City is scientifically known as Angustus Labyrinthus, and refers to the highly distinct geographic formations near the planet’s southern polar region. It too looks like something you’d see on Earth. Scientists believe the ridged ‘city’ is actually the remnants of glaciers that have melted, leaving behind strange surface formations.
Images via ESA. Credit ESA/DLR/FU Berlin.
The ‘Inca City’ on Mars refers to the strange raised topography that resemble the ruins of ancient human settlements.
The black ‘spiders’ seen in this satellite composite indeed look like black creatures scattered amongst the surface. Â To an untrained eye, it would appear a giant form of alien life had been discovered on Mars.
Alas, the formations are actually made of buried carbon dioxide, which forms when underground gas moves upward under dark material, and forms channels and ‘arms’ that can reach 0.03 to 0.6 miles (45 meters to 1 kilometer) across.
“The dark spots in this image from ESA’s Mars Express are the telltale sign of ‘spiders’ scattered across the southern polar region of Mars. These small features form when carbon dioxide gas warms up in sunlight and breaks through slabs of overlying ice, etching branched grooves into the surface and dragging dark material up to the surface to form dark blotches.”
Regardless of whether these don’t show life on Mars, it shows an active planet, full of geologic changes. It also shows how much more we have to learn about the Red Planet.