NASA rover captures images of "mother-of-pearl" clouds on Mars

New images captured by NASA's Curiosity rover amusement colorful clouds successful the entity implicit Mars.

The images were captured by the rover's Mastcam, which NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory compared to the rover's eyes. The clouds were spotted connected Jan. 17, and the photos were taken implicit the people of 16 minutes, the abstraction bureau said successful a quality release.

The clouds, known arsenic noctilucent oregon twilight clouds, incorporate frozen c dioxide, oregon adust ice. They are tinted with colors erstwhile the mounting Sun scatters light. That colour has led to them being nicknamed "mother-of-pearl" clouds. 

While Mars' ambiance is 95% c dioxide, fewer of its clouds are astatine a precocious capable ambiance and debased capable somesthesia to incorporate frozen c dioxide. Most clouds connected the satellite are made of h2o ice. The clouds photographed by Curiosity are astatine an altitude of 37 to 50 miles supra the planet's surface. Other images amusement the clouds arsenic achromatic plumes falling done the atmosphere, earlier evaporating astir 31 miles supra Mars. 

The iridescent clouds captured by the Curiosity Rover, miles supra the aboveground of Mars.  NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/SSI

The twilight clouds person lone been spotted successful immoderate areas of Mars' confederate hemisphere. NASA's Perseverance Rover, which landed connected Mars' bluish hemisphere successful 2021, has not seen the clouds since it landed, but Curiosity has seen them successful the confederate hemisphere successful 4 antithetic Mars years. 

Mark Lemmon, an atmospheric idiosyncratic with the Space Science Institute successful Boulder, Colorado, told NASA that helium believes definite regions of the satellite are much apt to signifier the clouds. Gravity waves, which chill a planet's atmosphere, could beryllium a factor, helium said. 

"Carbon dioxide was not expected to beryllium condensing into crystal here, truthful thing is cooling it to the constituent that it could happen," Lemmon said successful NASA's quality release. "But Martian gravity waves are not afloat understood and we're not wholly definite what is causing twilight clouds to signifier successful 1 spot but not another." 

Even though researchers don't wholly recognize however the clouds are formed, they tin foretell erstwhile and wherever they volition appear. Lemmon, who was a pb researcher connected a 2024 insubstantial detailing Curiosity's archetypal 2 years of unreality observations, said the improvement has "become truthful predictable that we tin program our shots successful advance." 

The caller unreality photos aren't the lone information Curiosity has sent backmost to NASA successful caller weeks. The rover precocious investigated a spot called the Gediz Vallis channel, the abstraction bureau said. 

It besides visited an interaction crater nicknamed "Rustic Canyon" to instrumentality photos and survey the rocks astir the crater. The 67-foot wide crater apt formed millions of years ago, based connected the erosion of the site, NASA said. 

The rover volition proceed connected to a caller determination that includes what NASA called "boxwork," oregon fractures successful the planet's aboveground formed by groundwater. When seen from space, the fractures look similar elephantine spiderwebs, NASA said. 

In:
• Mars Rover
• Mars
• Space
• NASA