Mars may be devoid of insects, but new photos from an orbiting spacecraft have revealed a large number of “spiders” that appear to skim the dusty surface.
By: Scientific alert
Free translation from English by lapatilla.com
Of course, they are not real, live arachnids; Instead, they are dark, thin features on the Martian surface created by entirely non-biological processes. They are called “spiders” because they appear outwardly with a central dark spot surrounded by thin lines.
They form as a result of seasonal changes on the Red Planet, cold extremes and spring warming.
Although Mars does experience seasons, due to an Earth-like axial tilt, those seasons are very different from what we experience on our own planet. Winter temperatures drop below -123 degrees Celsius (-190 Fahrenheit) and almost everything freezes.
That includes carbon dioxide, which forms surface deposits of a substance called dry ice on Earth. As the cold winter begins to give way to spring, the temperature warms; But while normal ice melts in a warming atmosphere, dry ice does not. Instead, it turns directly into a gas.
You can read the full note here Scientific alert
