Fact Sheet
Martian Tattoo
What looks like a bizarre tattoo or graffiti is actually a pattern of trails left by dust devils on the surface of Mars. The small "twisters," which are common in arid regions of Earth, lift small, light-colored grains of sand, exposing darker material below. They can serpentine their way across many miles of the Martian surface. This image was snapped by a camera aboard Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which is mapping the Martian surface in greater detail than ever before. [NASA/LPL (Univ. Arizona)]
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