Astronomy Picture of the Day
    


APOD: 2024 December 3 Á Ice Clouds over a Red Planet
<< Yesterday 3.12.2024 Tomorrow >>
APOD: 2024 December 3 Á Ice Clouds over a Red Planet
Credit & Copyright: NASA, JPL-Caltech, Kevin M. Gill; Processing: Rogelio Bernal Andreo
Explanation: If you could stand on Mars -- what might you see? You might look out over a vast orange landscape covered with rocks under a dusty orange sky, with a blue-tinted Sun setting over the horizon, and odd-shaped water clouds hovering high overhead. This was just the view captured last March by NASA's rolling explorer, Perseverance. The orange coloring is caused by rusted iron in the Martian dirt, some of which is small enough to be swept up by winds into the atmosphere. The blue tint near the setting Sun is caused by blue light being preferentially scattered out from the Sun by the floating dust. The light-colored clouds on the right are likely composed of water-ice and appear high in the Martian atmosphere. The shapes of some of these clouds are unusual for Earth and remain a topic of research.

January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
 < December 2024  
Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su






1
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
3031




Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.

Based on Astronomy Picture Of the Day

Publications with keywords: Mars
Publications with words: Mars
See also:
All publications on this topic >>