They are described by NASA as soft puffs of ice crystals. After years behind these clouds, the Curiosity rover has finally managed to capture their formation in the thin and delicate Martian atmosphere. Some grayish and iridescent clouds that If you don’t know the context, you might well think that it is a photograph of the Earth..
Curiosity has been on Mars since 2012, although I have photographed clouds there in the past (it has photographed everything), it has had to wait these last two years so that the conditions are given that form the appropriate clouds. Clouds on Mars are not common, although they generally form at the equator during the cold season of the Martian year. Last Martian year (two years ago here on Earth) NASA realized that the clouds formed earlier than expected, so this time they were ready and prepared to capture them.
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Clouds (probably) of frozen carbon dioxide
Clouds on Mars generally form at altitudes of about 60 kilometers from the surface. However, these captured by Curiosity recently are higher. This is mainly because have formed ahead of schedule, but it also has other consequences. For example, they are believed to be clouds made up of frozen carbon dioxide and not water ice.
Different characteristics of clouds allow researchers to establish the position and composition of the clouds. For example, clouds shine because light passes through frozen crystals in them. This brightness, depending on when it occurs and where the Sun is in the Martian sky at that time, allows us to determine the altitude of the clouds.
On the other hand, the researchers also have been able to see iridescent clouds of various pastel colors on Mars. Iridescent clouds are formed when the crystals in the cloud are all the same size because they have formed at the same time, that is, at the beginning of the cloud. The result, in the case of Mars, are clouds with red, green, bluish and purple colors.
In Engadget, who will rule Mars when we manage to establish a colony there?
One of the main tasks of the Curiosity rover on Mars right now is study the martian atmosphere (most curious). After completing its main mission years ago and far exceeding the expected useful life of it, it is now used for other NASA investigations. It’s one of the most lucrative rovers we’ve ever shipped out there.
Via | POT
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The Curiosity news item captures the impressive clouds of Mars: grayish, bright and strikingly similar to ours was originally published in
Engadget
by Cristian Rus.
