The European Space Agency’s Mars Express orbiter has spotted “spiders” on the Red Planet’s southern polar region.
But they’re not the arachnids we fear or adore back on Earth — they’re the result of a complex geological process that causes carbon dioxide to sublimate, digging up darker material from below the surface during the planet’s spring.
And they’re a whole lot larger than the spiders you’re used to, measuring up to 3,300 feet across.
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Many of these spots have been found outside of a Martian landscape dubbed Inca City (formally Angustus Labyrinthus) thanks to its geometric ridges that summon to mind Inca ruins.
Spoiler alert: the orbiter has not spotted spiders on the surface of Mars.
I’m a huge space nerd, but I absolutely hate space related news because they’re pretty much all just some dumb clickbait bullshit. I’m surprised they didn’t call those “spiders” mysterious.
And the Inca City isn’t a city and is not related to the Incas. Or that’s what The Man would have you believe.