Shocking Image Shows Mars Is Crawling With Spiders And It Will Bug You Out

The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Mars Express snapped an image of Mars that will send a chill up the spine of those with arachnophobia. But don’t get too freaked out. The swarm of creepy crawlers is not what one might expect at first glance.

While the image may give the illusion of thousands of spiders scurrying across the barren landscape of the Red Planet, and possible signs of life, they are actually features that form when spring sunshine falls on layers of carbon dioxide deposited during the winter months. As the sunlight begins to shine down once again, it causes carbon dioxide ice at the bottom layer to turn into gas. Once the gas builds enough pressure up, it breaks through the slabs of overlaying ice, and the gas bursts free, dragging the dark material up to the surface.

The gas bursts through the cracks of the ice in the form of tall fountains, or geysers, before falling back to the surface. It is the “spider-shaped” patterns etched into the ice that give the appearance of spiders on the Martian surface.

The image captured by Mars Express’ high-resolution camera was of a region on Mars called Inca City (see image above). ESA is still unsure of how Inca City formed, but theorize it could be sand dunes turned to stone over time. The space agency adds, “Perhaps material such as magma or sand is seeping through fractured sheets of martian rock. Or, the ridges could be ‘eskers’, winding structures related to glaciers.”

As all the spacecraft that are studying Mars closeup continue to send back new data, more will be learned of the third rock from the sun. Perhaps when the core samples from the Perseverance rover are returned to Earth, scientists will finally be able to find actual life on the Red Planet, and not just illusions of spiders.