Boo!⁣ ⁣ Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you. These are not real spiders. That was just a trick. 🎃⁣ ⁣ These spider-shaped features, called araneiform terrain, are found in the southern hemisphere of Mars. No one is entirely sure how these geologic features are created. (ooooOOOOoooo.)⁣ ⁣ The leading theory is that these spiders are created by processes involving carbon dioxide ice, which doesn’t occur naturally on Earth — however, a recent study re-created those formation processes in simulated Martian temperatures and air pressure. ⁣ ⁣ Sunlight shines through transparent slabs of carbon dioxide ice and heats the soil underneath it. The soil absorbs the heat and causes the ice closest to it to turn directly into carbon dioxide gas — without turning to liquid first — in a process called sublimation. As the gas builds in pressure, the Martian ice cracks, allowing the gas to escape. The gas takes with it a stream of dark dust and sand that lands on the surface of the ice. The spiderlike scars...