What the clouds of Mars look like

how will humans see the Mars sky when they get there? Well, it is now possible to get a very close idea. And it’s all possible thanks to the Curiosity rover. This small robot never ceases to amaze with the material it sends back from Mars. This time, NASA has released what the clouds of Mars look like.

what do the clouds of Mars look like?
what do the clouds of Mars look like?

Revealing photos

Curiosity has been providing relevant information about the red planet for many months. This time, the images were taken by a navigation camera aboard the rover on December 12, 2021. “Shadows of these clouds can be seen drifting across the terrain,” details the US space agency.

It was achieved with an eight-frame movie, taken with the same navigation camera. Thanks to this information, the scientists were able to calculate how fast the clouds are moving. They also know how high they are in the sky by comparing perspectives.

NASA has established that the Martian clouds are at a great height. The distance is close to 80 kilometers above the surface. “It’s very cold at that altitude. What does that suggest? It lets us know their composition. We think these clouds are composed of carbon dioxide ice rather than water ice clouds. The latter are normally found at lower altitudes,” the agency specifies.

Near future

Martian clouds are very weak in the atmosphere. Because of this characteristic, special imaging techniques are needed to see them. How does the rover work here? For this, several images are taken in order to obtain a clear and static background. That gives us a clear idea of what the clouds look like on Mars. Why? Because anything else that moves within the image becomes visible after subtracting that static background from each individual image. Something that maybe humans will see in person very soon.

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