While sunsets on Mars are uniquely moody, NASA’s Curiosity rover has captured a shocking picture of a martian sundown, that includes gentle rays that illuminated a financial institution of clouds because the solar set over the horizon.

These ‘sun rays’ are often known as crepuscular rays, from the Latin phrase for ‘twilight’. It was the primary time solar rays have been so clearly seen on Mars.

Curiosity, which was constructed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and managed by Caltech in Pasadena, California, on February 2 captured the scene throughout the rover’s latest twilight cloud survey, which builds on its 2021 observations of noctilucent, or night-shining, clouds.

While most Martian clouds hover not more than 37 miles (60 kilometres) above the bottom and are composed of water ice, the clouds within the newest photographs seem like at the next altitude, the place it’s particularly chilly. That suggests these clouds are made from carbon dioxide ice or dry ice.

On Earth, clouds present scientists with advanced however essential info for understanding the climate. By when and the place clouds type, scientists can study extra in regards to the Martian environment’s composition and temperatures, and the winds inside it.

The 2021 cloud survey included extra imaging by Curiosity’s black-and-white navigation cameras, offering an in depth take a look at a cloud’s construction because it strikes. But the current survey, which started in January and can wrap up in mid-March, depends extra usually on the rover’s color Mast Camera, or Mastcam, which helps scientists see how cloud particles develop over time.

In addition to the picture of solar rays, Curiosity captured a set of vibrant clouds formed like a feather on Jan. 27. When illuminated by daylight, sure sorts of clouds can create a rainbowlike show referred to as iridescence.

“Where we see iridescence, it means a cloud’s particle sizes are identical to their neighbours in each part of the cloud,” stated Mark Lemmon, an atmospheric scientist with the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado. “By looking at colour transitions, we’re 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.”

Curiosity captured each the solar rays and iridescent clouds as panoramas, every of which was stitched collectively from 28 photographs despatched to Earth. The photographs have been processed to emphasise the highlights.