Perseverance’s one-year “Landiversary” is today, but the Curiosity Mars rover, not to be outdone, has released some spectacular film of clouds scudding by on Mars – presumably to remind people that it was first there. The two fantastic GIFs provided by NASA show two different angles, one showing clouds above the sparse Martian landscape and the other capturing clouds flying directly over Curiosty, which lets scientists back home understand what’s occurring on.
“By comparing the two perspectives, scientists can determine how rapidly the clouds are moving — and how high they are in the sky,” the agency noted on its Mars science blog. “These clouds are about 50 miles (80 kilometers) above the earth and are incredibly high. At that altitude, it’s incredibly cold, implying that these clouds are made of carbon dioxide ice rather than water ice clouds, which are generally seen at lower altitudes “According to researchers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
The digitally improved photographs were obtained on Curiosity’s 3,325th sol, or Martian day, on December 12, 2021. The first GIF shows the clouds’ shadows on the earth as they pass by. This is one method of detecting clouds on Mars. Because of the planet’s thin atmosphere, clouds are difficult to view, necessitating the use of specialist imaging techniques.
“To acquire a clear, static background, many photos are shot. After removing the static background from each individual shot, everything else moving inside the image (such clouds or shadows) becomes visible “NASA clarified the situation. Curiosity has been exploring Gale Crater since 2012, with the primary goal of determining whether microbial life has ever existed on Mars – however there’s nothing wrong with a little stargazing every now and then. In fact, Curiosity has taught us the majority of what we know about Martian clouds.
Because the Red Planet’s thin, dry atmosphere prevents clouds from forming, Curiosity’s capture of any is a scientific triumph. Curiosity, Perseverance, Zhurong, and Insight are the three rovers and one lander that have joined Mars’ robotic population in recent years, so it’s understandable if there’s some healthy competition among these many-wheeled investigators. It’s a win for everyone on Earth as we grow closer to solving the riddles of our rocky neighbor and attempting to answer the ultimate question: has there ever been, or could there ever be, life on Mars?
