#Spiders #Appearing #South #Pole #Mars #Astronomers
Editorial, CNBC Indonesia
Tech
Friday, 04/26/2024 20:20 IWST
Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – The European Space Agency (ESA) published photos of a phenomenon they named “spider signs from Mars.”
The ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter took this image in the south pole area of Mars. In the photo you can see the surface of Mars filled with structures that look like hundreds of giant spiders.
ESA estimates that these structures formed in the ice when winter on Mars turned into spring.
“These small, dark bumps form when the spring sun shines on layers of carbon dioxide buried during the dark winter,” the ESA said.
Sunlight causes the carbon dioxide ice in the bottom layer to turn into gas, which increases over time and leaks through the ice above it. Gas erupted amid Martian spring, bringing dark material to the surface.
When the gas managed to find its way out between the cracks in the meters-thick ice, the dark material fell like a waterfall. This structure resembles a spider with a width of between 45 meters to 1 kilometer.
ESA also explained that the human habit of imagining familiar shapes when looking at certain objects is called pareidolia. This pareidolia is what makes forms on Mars look like spiders to Earth’s inhabitants.
“Our brains are constantly trying to understand the world. One of the methods the brain uses to understand the world is by detecting and learning certain patterns. These patterns help the brain to react and behave in an effort to survive,” said Jess Taubert from the University of Queensland to IFLScience.
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