Written by Samah Labib
Thursday, 09 March 2023 06:00 AM
NASA’s Perseverance rover may be on Mars surface Since 2021, it’s been collecting rock samples and finding hints of water, but that doesn’t mean its predecessor has already retired from its explorations.
In fact, the Curiosity rover has been observing Martian clouds during dusk to build on previous surveys of bright clouds at night, and on February 2nd Curiosity captured a rare view on its camera, making it the first time we’ve seen auroral rays (or “sunrays”) clearly visible from the sky. the surface of Mars, according to the Engadget report.
The clouds are higher than most Martian clouds, which sit 37 miles above Earth’s surface and are made of water ice, and because the clouds in the image are higher where it’s particularly cold, NASA thinks they’re made of frozen carbon dioxide — or dry ice, as we call it — instead, and observing clouds on Mars can help scientists learn more about the planet’s weather conditions, temperatures, and winds, she says.
For this particular survey, which began in January and will conclude in mid-March, Curiosity is mostly using the color Mast Camera, or Mastcam, and the equipment allows the rover to take pictures that show scientists how cloud particles glow over time to create the panorama.
And NASA has put together 28 images taken by Mastcam. In 2021 though, Curiosity relied mostly on black and white navigation cameras that provided us with a detailed look at the structure of clouds as they moved.
In addition to the first clear view of the sun’s rays on MarsThe probe has also captured images of interesting Akhmer cloud formations since the current survey began. One of the images from Jan. 27 is an iridescent feather-shaped cloud. The color shifts caused by iridescence apparently tell scientists how the cloud is evolving and how the size of its particles changes across the structure.
