And now for something whole different : NASA ’s Curiosity wanderer capture a feather - shaped cloud glowing in the Martian sky shortly after sundown on the Red Planet .
It dates back to January 2023 , but NASA recentlyfeaturedthe image in an agency limelight highlight the rover ’s probe of the major planet ’s skies lead last month .
In that investigation , Curiosity captured image over the line of 16 minutes on January 17 , or Sol 4426 on Mars . The images show reddish - green clouds in the Martian gloam . The clouds are noctilucent ( or “ night shining ” ) cloud , triggered by the style the Sun ’s light scatter in the dusty Martian ambiance .
Curiosity’s view of the iridescent cloud.Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
According to a NASArelease , Martian clouds are made of either water system ice-skating rink or C dioxide ice . Only the latter mathematical group — which come about at higher altitudes and humiliated temperature than water chicken feed clouds — radiate in the fashion shown above . Noctilucent clouds occur on Mars at altitudes between roughly 37 and 50 mi ( 60 and 80 kilometers ) above the surface . When the cloud rove much lower ( below about 31 miles , or 50 kilometre up ) they evaporate due to come up temperatures in the atmosphere .
Noctilucent clouds are not merely an extraterrestrial phenomenon . Rocket launches on Earth cancausethe radiate clouds in Earth ’s upper atmosphere , which are only visible briefly after sunset or before sunrise — otherwise it is too shiny to see them .
Mars ’ clouds derive in many shapes and size of it . In 2022 , ESA scientistsspottedclouds not unlike those that form on Earth in the Red Planet ’s sky . The following class , the Perseverance rover was greeted withheavy cloud covering — a sign of the sunless days to come on the dusty , not - too - distant man . The recently see iridescent cloud are not a new discovered phenomenon but are still mesmerizing to lay eyes on — and still ask heap of scrutiny .
The twilight cloud were first escort on Mars by NASA ’s Pathfinder mission in 1997 . Curiosity did n’t repeat the antic until 2017 , and last month ’s sighting is the 4th Mars year the rover has blot the cloud .
Late last twelvemonth , NASA researcherspublisheda study in theGeophysical Research Lettersdescribing how the opaline effect let out how ice forms and grows in Mars ’ atmosphere .
“ I ’ll always remember the first time I saw those iridescent cloud and was certain at first it was some colouring material artefact , ” enjoin Mark Lemmon , an atmospherical scientist at the Space Science Institute in Colorado and the study ’s star author , in a NASArelease . “ Now it ’s become so predictable that we can plan our shots in approach ; the cloud show up at exactly the same clip of year . ”
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 predispose to hosting the cloud .
atmospherical sciencecuriosity roverExploration of MarsMarsMars rovers
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