NASA's Curiosity rover has captured captivating footage of twilight clouds on Mars, revealing their intricate patterns and movement. These clouds, formed by carbon dioxide ice, offer valuable insights into the planet's climate and atmospheric processes.
Curiosity rover has captured stunning video footage of delicate, red-and-green-tinted clouds drifting through the Martian sky. These twilight clouds , made of carbon dioxide ice, are illuminated by sunlight even when it is night on the planet's surface. The snapshots were collected over 16 minutes and sped up about 480 times to create the mesmerizing video.
These clouds, typically appearing during early fall in Mars' southern hemisphere, form at an altitude of 37 to 50 miles (60 to 80 kilometers) above the surface where temperatures are cooler, causing carbon dioxide in Mars' atmosphere to condense. Some of the ice crystals can be seen raining down on the surface as thick, white plumes before evaporating about 31 miles (50 kilometers) high due to rising temperatures. This marks the fourth Mars year Curiosity has witnessed these clouds, first spotted back in 1997 by NASA's Pathfinder mission. Scientists are still puzzled as to why twilight clouds haven't been observed elsewhere on Mars, particularly by the Perseverance rover in the northern hemisphere. The exact mechanisms behind their formation remain a mystery, although some theories suggest that atmospheric ripples known as gravity waves could be cooling the atmosphere enough to trigger condensation. However, Martian gravity waves are not fully understood, leaving scientists to investigate further
Mars Curiosity Rover Twilight Clouds Carbon Dioxide Ice Climate Atmospheric Science
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