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Mars was snapped with a swarm of “spiders” spread across its southern polar region, as captured by ESA’s Mars Express. The photos show a huge number of spiders walking in groups over the surface of Mars. But these weren’t actual spiders, rather a unique feature on the red planet.

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The small, dark features on Mars are formed when spring sunshine falls on the layers of carbon dioxide that are deposited over the dark winter months. 

Take a closer look at the Martian surface here. 

Spider phenomenon on Mars

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The sunlight causes carbon dioxide ice at the bottom of the layer to turn into gas, which subsequently builds up and breaks through slabs of overlying ice. The gas then bursts free during springtime on Mars, dragging dark material up to the surface and shattering layers of ice up to a meter thick.

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“The emerging gas, laden with dark dust, shoots up through cracks in the ice in the form of tall fountains or geysers, before falling back down and settling on the surface. This creates dark spots between 45 m and 1 km across. This same process creates characteristic ‘spider-shaped’ patterns etched beneath the ice,” explained ESA’s official website. 

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These dark spots can be seen everywhere on the Mars Express image released by ESA. However, most can be seen as small spots in the dark region to the left, which sits just on the outskirts of a part of Mars nicknamed Inca City. The reason this region was named Inca City was because it features a linear and geometric network of ridges, almost similar to Inca ruins. It was discovered in 1972 by NASA’s Mariner 9 probe.

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Scientists are still not sure how Inca City was formed, but it is believed that sand dunes could have turned to stone over a period of time. The material inside it, probably magma or sand, is seeping through fractured sheets of Martian rock. 

Towards the middle section of the image, the landscape changes somewhat, with large roundish and oval swirls creating an effect reminiscent of marble. This effect is thought to occur when layered deposits are worn away over time.

The ground towards the right (north) becomes increasingly covered in smooth, light-colour dust. Some signs of spiders can be seen scattered across the plateaus there as well.

(With inputs from agencies)