Creepy images of 'spiders' crawling all over the surface of Mars have left people stunned

Scientists have been looking for signs of life on Mars for several years. Though we still do not know about human life, images of what appears to be spiders crawling on the surface of Mars are doing the rounds on the internet. But there is a catch! What looks like spiders crawling on the surface of the red planet are layers of carbon dioxide, shared the European Space Agency (ESA), which uploaded the images. The dark dot-like structures are formed when spring sunshine falls on the layers of carbon dioxide deposited over the dark winter months on the planet.

The sunlight after winter turns carbon dioxide ice at the bottom of the layer into gas. This gas then builds up and breaks through slabs of ice on the top. This phenomenon mainly occurs in Martian springtime, making the dark material come up to the surface and shattering layers of ice up to a meter thick, per the outlet. The emerging gas covered with dust comes up through cracks in the ice, looking like tall fountains or geysers, before it falls and settles on the surface. It can create dark spots that are 45 meters to a kilometer thick. These could also be a sign of the fractured Martian crust eroding over time, per Space.com.

The emerging gas makes patterns that may seem like spiders are crawling beneath the surface of the ice. One of the space agency's orbiters, known as the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO), has captured images of these patterns on the surface of Mars. The dark spots that look like spiders can be seen all over in the images taken by Mars Express, including the plateaus. These spots are mainly seen on the outskirts of a part of Mars popularly known as the Inca City. The city has been named so because of its resemblance with the Inca ruins. Even though the spiders might not actually be spiders, the images can be quite startling, reports CBS Chicago.

Moreover, the ESA took to Facebook to post both the image and the close-up of the spider-like structures. People had mixed feelings about the same. The agency captioned the post, "No, these dark spots, seen by ESA's Mars Express on the outskirts of an area nicknamed 'Inca City' in the southern polar region of Mars, have a more 'down to Earth' explanation..." In a follow-up post, they wrote, "Remember we posted about 'spiders on Mars' last week? Well, here's a close-up of those features, seen from ESA's ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter."

Divyadarshan Purohit wrote, "Awesome. Don't you think that illusion is everywhere? Our eyes spotted it as spiders on Mars. Just wonderful." Ian Simkin commented, "This pic was in the accompanying article to the original post - as those who were a**ed enough to click on the link will already know (and yes, it's a fantastic image - and if I'm not mistaken, the entire point of the whole thing in the first place?)" Charlotte Serpel wrote, "I hope the dark dust that forms these spiders will be named ZiggyStar Dust." Abderrahim Ka shared, "Can't believe the fact that Mars had a life before, due to the cold weather and the pressure, probably had a low oxygen or there is no oxygen, it is impossible with this ratio to believe that and Spiders hate cold and frozen weather and that's a fact!"