FP Trending23 March 2021 16:07:26 IST
A rover of the car that landed on Mars on August 6, 2012, better known as the Curiosity Rover, captured beautiful footage of clouds moving across the Martian surface. The five-minute clip was shot by cameras attached to the top of Curiosity, displaying clouds above the surface of Mars. The footage was captured on March 19, 2021 and was shared by North Carolina State University scientist Dr. Paul Byrne.
According to a report in the Independent, was captured for five minutes by the navigation camera on Curiosity in eight separate images stitched together. The “noctilucent” clouds on Mars in the video can even be illuminated by the sun during the night because of how high it is above the surface.
Clouds in the sky that gently go overhead.
On March, Friday 19 March 2021. pic.twitter.com/jJpemPefIV
– Prof. Paul Byrne (@ThePlanetaryGuy) 20 March 2021
The clouds seen in the video seem to be moving on the earth. But in the report it is mentioned that the clouds must have formed in different ways due to the great difference in atmosphere of the two planets. The atmosphere of Mars is thinner than that of Earth. While the atmosphere that surrounds our home plant is rich in nitrogen and oxygen, the atmosphere of Mars is rich in carbon dioxide, European Space Agency set.
Compare the atmosphere of Mars and Earth. Image: ESA
According to Phoenix, snow on the surface was detected by the Phoenix lander in 2008 the Independent. But unlike on Earth, snow on Mars is formed by carbon dioxide. The thin atmosphere of Mars causes light clouds to form above the surface, while the clouds on Earth are mostly thick. The dust formed when space debris hits the planet’s atmosphere is also believed to be responsible for cloud formation.
The Red Planet, which is considered an ‘alternative’ world that people may inhabit in the future, is half the size of Earth.