What appear to be spiders scampering across the martian landscape are actually cracks in the surface of the southern polar region on Mars, seen by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on August 23, 2009.  Caused as carbon dioxide ice evaporates and escapes into the atmosphere, there is no escaping that these "araneiform" features look like our 8 legged friends!

March 27, 2015

What appear to be spiders scampering across the martian landscape are actually cracks in the surface of the southern polar region on Mars, seen by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on August 23, 2009. Caused as carbon dioxide ice evaporates and escapes into the atmosphere, there is no escaping that these “araneiform” features look like our 8 legged friends!

Credits

NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

ENLARGE

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