A Martian Aurora? NASA's Curiosity captures heavenly sun rays on Mars
March 6, 2023
The sun rays captured are also called crepuscular rays, which is derived from the Latin word for twilight. The Martian rover captured the image while conducting the twilight cloud survey. The image will add to its 2021 observations of noctilucent, or night-shining clouds.
ALSO READ |
NASA's Curiosity rover discovers wave-rippled rocks on Mars
It was believed that the clouds are present 60 kilometres above the ground on Mars and are made of water ice. However, the latest images show the clouds hovering at a higher altitude, where it is really cold.
Where we see iridescence, it means a clouds particle sizes are identical to their neighbours in each part of the cloud. By looking at colour transitions, were seeing particle size changing across the cloud. That tells us about the way the cloud is evolving and how its particles are changing size over time, said Mark Lemmon, an atmospheric scientist, in a statement.
WATCH | Gravitas: The Earth has a hidden layer. Here's what it's called
A set of colourful clouds, in the shape of a feather, was also captured by the rover on January 27. When sunlight will illuminate the clouds, a few of them will create a rainbow-like display called iridescence.
You cannow write for wionews.comand be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us
Wednesday, March 8, 2023 at 12:39 am