NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover continues to tell us what we don’t know and don’t see about the Red Planet. The vehicle last photographed the stunning sunset on Mars.
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover caught “sunbeams” filtering through the Red Planet’s clouds on the 3730 left day of its mission, February 2, 2023. Sun rays, also known as twilight rays, have been imaged so clearly on Mars for the first time, NASA said.
In the photograph taken, beams of light illuminate a cloud cluster as the Sun descends on the planet’s horizon on February 2. These “sun rays” are also known as twilight rays, which comes from the Latin. As we said, these moments show a rare sunset on Mars. The GIF just below shows the sunset on Mars, which is often seen. So when we start living on Mars, these newly captured landscapes will be described as “dazzling”.
First Viewed So Clearly
Of course, the purpose of this photo is not just to immortalize a beautiful view. It is known that most Martian clouds are no more than 60 kilometers above the ground and are usually composed of water ice. However, the clouds in the last photo are higher and are in the colder parts of the atmosphere. According to NASA, these clouds are formed from carbon dioxide ice or dry ice.
As on Earth, clouds provide scientists with complex but crucial information for understanding weather. By looking at when and where clouds form, scientists can learn more about the composition, temperature and winds of the Martian atmosphere.
In addition to the twilight lights, Curiosity also photographed a series of colorful clouds from the sunset on January 27. In this image, it is seen that the clouds form a rainbow-like image under sunlight. “By looking at color gradients, we see that particle size changes throughout the cloud. This tells us how the cloud evolves and how its particles change size over time,” said Mark Lemmon, an atmospheric scientist at the Space Sciences Institute.
