On Mars, NASA's Curiosity rover has discovered odd, multicolored clouds.

 

On March 19, 2021, an image created from 21 images taken by Curiosity depicts twilight clouds shortly after sunset, modified to look like the scene would to human eyes. (Photo courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS)


This image may resemble an Arizona postcard, but it depicts something far more exotic: the planet Mars, as seen by NASA's Curiosity rover.

The image is a composite of 21 individual photographs taken recently by the rover over its Gale Crater home to study a strange type of wispy cloud. Two Earth years ago, scientists noticed that the cloud type was forming earlier in the Martian year than expected. Curiosity was on the lookout for the first clouds of the Martian year, and it was not disappointed. The wispy, ice-rich clouds began dispersing sunlight in sometimes-colorful displays beginning in late January, when the robotic sky monitor began filming them.

Mark Lemmon, an atmospheric scientist, said in a NASA release, "I constantly marvel at the colors that pop up: reds and greens, blues and purples." It's incredible to see something bright and colorful on Mars.

According to NASA, these clouds appear higher in the Martian atmosphere than the clouds that scientists regularly view on the planet. Curiosity's structures are usually full of water ice and float about 37 miles (60 kilometers) above the Martian surface when a cloud passes over it.

Although NASA did not identify the altitude of the clouds in Curiosity's recent photographs, they are higher in the atmosphere. According to the agency, the difference could be due to a different composition, such as clouds of frozen carbon dioxide or dry ice, though experts aren't sure.

Clouds moving over the Curiosity rover on March 19, 2021. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS)


A composite image shows iridescent noctilucent clouds on March 5, 2021. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS)


Curiosity's navigation camera spotted clouds on March 31, 2021. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS)


Curiosity's navigation camera spotted clouds on March 28, 2021. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS)



Scientists name the clouds noctilucent, or night-shining, because they are at their most beautiful soon after sunset, when the final light makes the ice crystals gleam. (Both the black-and-white navigation cameras and the color Mast Camera on Curiosity can watch these noctilucent clouds.)

When the cloud particles are extremely comparable sizes, as they are when clouds are just forming and growing at the same rate, some of these clouds appear iridescent, according to Lemmon.

 

Originally Published By Live Science.

 

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