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NASA’s Curiosity Rover has shared several videos from the surface of Mars that reveal just how incredible the night sky looks on the red planet. The Curiosity Rover has been on Mars since Aug. 5, 2012 and during that time the six-wheeled robot has traveled 22 miles while completing its near-endless list of tasks.
One of the questions that the Curiosity Rover has answered on multiple occasions is what the night sky looks like on Mars. As Stuart Atkinson of BBC Sky at Night Magazine explained in an article re-published this week, “We know it does have some clouds because they have been photographed by every orbiter, rover and lander that has ever been there, and occasionally Mars dust storms brew up that can cover the whole sky for months. The winds on Mars are also something that planetary scientists are keen to learn more about. Generally speaking the Martian night sky would usually be as clear as a clear desert sky here on Earth.”
“Clear” would be an understatement. Thanks to there being a lot less interference from satellites and a lack of light and air pollution, aside from the dust (which actually makes the view even more spectacular), video from the Curiosity Rover of the night sky on Mars reveals the planet’s two moons, Phobos and Deimos. It also, at the right time of year, reveals “an ‘Evening Star’ shining in the lavender-hued twilight,” or perhaps a meteor shower. It’s the Milky Way like you’ve never seen it before.
@nasa.curiosity Night Sky on Mars. 140 million miles away from us.
Curiosity discoveries abound
Earlier this month, NASA’s Curiosity Rover traveled to Gale Crater on Mars in the planet’s southern hemisphere and found itself in a fork-in-the-road. As Space.com explains, the location is part of a larger boxwork pattern on the surface of Mars. The three intersecting ridges have been given the name “Ayopaya” by NASA scientists. They were created by ancient rivers that once flowed across the planet.
@nasa.curiosity This is what the Night Sky on Mars looks like. 140 million miles away from us.
Prior to that, the Curiosity Rover came across some unusual rock formations that look like what we here on Earth would compare to coral. It wasn’t coral, of course. It was just a wind-eroded, multi-billion-year-old rock shaped like a piece of coral.
“Curiosity has found many small features like this one, which formed billions of years ago when liquid water still existed on Mars,” NASA explained. “Water carried dissolved minerals into rock cracks and later dried, leaving the hardened minerals behind. Eons of sandblasting by the wind wore away the surrounding rock, producing unique shapes.”
@nasa.curiosity This is what the Night Sky on Mars looks like. 140 million miles away from us.
Colonizing Mars
After viewing many of the images and videos of Mars that have sent back to Earth from the Curiosity Rover, it certainly becomes easier to see why Elon Musk has such a passionate interest in colonizing the red planet (despite the horrific risks).
Plus, there are those martians that the CIA thinks might be up there. Hopefully, they are friendly.