Can You Spot Any Shapes in the Martian Clouds?
NASA's Curiosity Rover has yet again captured another stunning shot of Mars, this time watching as clouds drift over the southern horizon.
Captured on the rover's 1,758th Martian day, this GIF is made up of 8 images taken in the early morning by one of the rover's navigation cameras. The clouds resemble Earth's cirrus clouds which are typically made up of ice water. "These Martian clouds," the agency notes, "are likely composed of crystals of water ice that condense onto dust grains in the cold Martian atmosphere."
NASA is speculating that the clouds might be an early part of a weather pattern that stems from the planet's elliptical orbit known as the aphelion cloud belt. But beyond the science of it, Curiosity's shot makes Mars seems like something of a cross between the desert of the American southwest and another planet. Which, of course, it is.
Source: NASA
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