2020 has been a difficult year for the whole wide world and no one knows it better than the family members of countless dead souls.
This image may be seen as that of an angel and a broken heart. As the holiday season swiftly approaches, even our planetary neighbors are getting into the spirit as shown by this perfect pair of festive silhouettes spotted by ESA’s Mars Express.
The angel and heart are both composed of various interesting features. Firstly, the angel’s hand, seen as if reaching to the left, is thought to be a large sublimation pit, a type of feature that forms as ice turns to gas and leaves empty pockets and depressions in the planetary surface a process that often occurs as the seasons change. Sublimation pits have been seen on other planets in the Solar System, such as Pluto, and can also be seen scattered across the terrain to the right.
As Mars’ southern hemisphere is currently experiencing summer, this image shows the planet’s southern polar ice stores at their lowest annual levels.
