Lying on a meadow, staring at the cloud formations in the sky and having brain-cracked ideas of their shapes is common in the summers of childhood – at least as they are portrayed in the media. One day, this image could carry over to a child lying on a sandy or rocky ledge and looking up at the sky and seeing dazzling, shimmering clouds in the sky. The biggest difference would be that the child is looking through a visor and those clouds would be on Mars. And Curiosity recently released some stunning pictures of what they might look like.
Scientists on the Curiosity project were a bit surprised a Martian year ago when clouds began to form earlier in the year than they expected. This year they were ready with the rover’s mastcam and black and white navigation cameras, and not only did they take stunning pictures, but they also collected some interesting scientific data.
On March 19, 2021, clouds will move over Curiostiy.
Credit – NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS
Some of the data collected related to cloud height – the clouds the cameras saw formed much higher than they had originally expected. Usually Martian clouds form at a height of 60 km, but these appeared much higher. It can be difficult to calculate elevation without a second reference point to triangulate from, but the clouds were visible at sunset so scientists could keep track of how long they were lit after the sun disappeared behind the Martian surface, and from this calculate their height calculate.
Clouds at this altitude are most likely not formed from the water ice crystals that are so common in terrestrial clouds. Cold temperatures in the Martian atmosphere meant that the clouds were more likely to be formed by CO2 or dry ice crystals. There is other data that needs to be collected before this hypothesis is confirmed, but most likely Curiosity has seen both water and carbon dioxide clouds.
More clouds captured by Curiosity – this one over a ledge.
Credit – NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS
While the clouds were relatively easy to see in the black and white images from the navigation cameras, the really spectacular images came from the mastcam. The color images show two types of clouds that were particularly impressive.
In a nice twist of the name, the first type of cloud is known in Latin as “noctilucent” or “noctilucent”. They explode with brightness as the atmosphere cools around sunset, causing more crystals to pop out in the cloud and then disappear from view after the sun sinks below the horizon.
UT video about the Martian atmosphere or lack of it.
Even more noticeable are the “mother-of-pearl” clouds, which are delicate but iridescent clouds that are one of the few splashes of color in the Martian landscape. Red, yellow, and blue stripes can be seen on the Curiosity images, and scientists predict that a person could see the colorful display unaided if they happened to be standing next to the rover.
These displays are certainly not the last time a Mars rover will encounter clouds, nor will it be a person to see them firsthand anytime soon. In the meantime, perhaps some children sitting on a grassy hill on earth in the summer can imagine what the scene would look like in the sky on another planet.
Learn more:
JPL – NASA’s Curiosity Rover captures glowing clouds on Mars
UT – There is a cloud on Mars that is over 1,800 miles long
UT – altitude clouds on Mars
UT – Martian clouds could begin with meteor trails through the atmosphere
Mission statement:
Mother of pearl clouds captured by Curiosity’s Mastcam on March 5, 2021.
Photo credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS
Like this:
Loading…
Comments are closed.