The iridescent cloud reveals new clues about ice formation in the Martian atmosphere (no little green men, sorry).
And now for something completely different: NASA’s Curiosity rover captured a feather-shaped cloud glowing in the Martian sky shortly after sunset on the Red Planet.In that investigation, Curiosity captured images over the course of 16 minutes on January 17, or Sol 4426 on Mars. The images show reddish-green clouds in the Martian twilight. The clouds are noctilucent clouds, caused by the way the Sun’s light scatters in the dusty Martian atmosphere.
The twilight clouds were first seen on Mars by NASA’s Pathfinder mission in 1997. Curiosity didn’t repeat the trick until 2017, and last month’s sighting is the fourth Mars year the rover has spotted the clouds.“I’ll always remember the first time I saw those iridescent clouds and was sure at first it was some color artifact,” said Mark Lemmon, an atmospheric scientist at the Space Science Institute in Colorado and the study’s lead author, in a NASA.
The release notes that these clouds have not been seen by rovers in other parts of Mars. It may be that the region Curiosity roves—on Gale Crater’s Mount Sharp—may be predisposed to hosting the clouds.Russia Claims New Plasma-Based Engine Could Cut Mars Travel to Just 30 DaysSpace & SpaceflightSix planets are lining up in a row from our Earthly view of the cosmos, in a spectacle that'll be visible in January through to February.
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