NASA’s Curiosity rover photographs cloud beams on Mars

The Curiosity rover, which has been roaming Mars for more than a decade, loves sunsets and twilight. A month ago, the NASA rover photographed so-called cloud beams. That was the first time this phenomenon has been observed so clearly on the red planet.

Curiosity made the cloudburst photo on February 2, or the mission’s 3730th sol. A sol is the name for a Martian day, which lasts slightly longer than a day on Earth, namely 24 hours, 39 minutes and 35 seconds. Cloud rays are also called solar harps, twilight rays or crepuscular rays.

The photo is part of an investigation into the clouds during twilight on Mars, which began in January. This research will come to an end in the middle of this month and mainly uses a color camera, the Mast Camera. Using a color camera helps scientists see how cloud particles grow over time. In 2021, the rover will also have observations made of night clouds. Those observations from two years ago mainly used the rover’s black-and-white navigation cameras.

Most clouds on the red planet are no higher than 60 km above the surface and are made of water ice, but the clouds in the photo appear to be even higher, according to NASA. Because it is even colder there, the clouds would disappear, for example dry ice can exist.

Curiosity imaged a set of feather-shaped clouds with iridescent colors caused by the sun on Jan. 27. By studying these colors, scientists can say something about the size of the particles in the clouds and how they grow over time.

Both photos were created by merging 28 individual photos into a large panorama. The images have been edited to accentuate the highlights a bit more.