NASA Captures Stunning Mars Sand Dunes 'Snaking' Across Desert Like 'Dune's' Sandworms [PHOTO]

NASA has captured a new image of Mars' sand dunes "snaking" across the desert.

On its official Twitter page, NASA shared the incredibly detailed image taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's @HiRISE camera of the Martian surface. The photo showed what appears to be multiple sand dunes of varying lengths all being pushed toward the same direction across Mars' "erosive" surface. The U.S. space agency compared the Martian "snaking sand dunes" to the "wild" colossal sandworms in the fictional Arrakis desert planet in "Dune."

The image taken by HiRISE, or High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, also highlights the varying light-toned layers of sedimentary deposits on Mars' surface which were caused by erosion, according to NASA's website. The narrow sand dunes on the top of all the rocks are the newest geologic features.

NASA also recently shared a stunning image of Martian "barchan dunes." Located near Mars' Nili Patera, the barchan dunes are characterized by their elongated crescent form and were formed due to wind continuously and consistently blowing in the same direction.

According to NASA’s website, the formation of the barchan dunes can be determined from their orientation. The barchan dunes were likely formed by wind blowing from right to left (east to west) which continues to move sand grains up the longer dune slope, toward the top. This movement resulted to the small ripples seen on the slope.

The sand grains fall down the steeper and shorter slope after they are pushed to the top, which could be the reason why they have no ripples. This process causes the slow but continuous movement of the Red Planet's sand dunes over time.

Nili Patera is a dune field on Mars that is located on top of a lava bed where an ancient volcano called the Nili Patera caldera of Syrtis Major used to be. One of the most active dune fields of Mars, the dunes and ripples here move rapidly, according to the HiRISE website. Due to this, the orbiter, operated by the University of Arizona, Tucson, usually checks the area every couple of months to see how it has changed.