THE SUN
A BREATHTAKING new image of a Martian sunset has been revealed by Nasa.
In the image, the Sun’s rays can be seen creating a beautiful feather-like cloud in Mars’ sky.
Nasa’s Curiosity rover snapped the image, and several others that showed the clearest images we’ve seen of Sun rays on Mars to date.
The photo of the feather cloud was taken on January 27, as the Sun illuminated that part of the sky to create iridescence.
“Where we see iridescence, it means a cloud’s particle sizes are identical to their neighbors in each part of the cloud,” said Mark Lemmon, an atmospheric scientist with the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado.
“By looking at color 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.”
