The European Space Agency’s Mars Express captured the image. (ESA/DLR/FU Berlin via SWNS)
By Dean Murray
Space scientists have spotted a city-sized “butterfly” on Mars.
A striking new image from the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Mars Express spacecraft has revealed a 20 km-wide crater resembling the winged insect etched into the Martian surface.
Scientists say the unusual formation, captured in the planet’s northern lowlands, is the result of a meteorite impact that sent material flying outwards, forming two distinct lobes or “wings” of raised ground.
(ESA/DLR/FU Berlin via SWNS)
The crater lies within the Idaeus Fossae region — a network of valleys and ridges near the edge of the Tempe Terra plateau.
In the Mars Express imagery, the crater’s uneven wings appear to stretch diagonally from the central, walnut-shaped basin.
ESA said: “Is it an insect? A strange fossil? An otherworldly eye, or even a walnut? No, it’s an intriguing kind of Martian butterfly spotted by ESA’s Mars Express.
“Insects aren’t commonplace on Mars, so it’s no surprise that this is no butterfly as we know it. It’s actually a kind of crater, formed as a space rock hurtled towards the Red Planet and collided with its red-brown surface.”