Sun Sets In Blue on Mars, NASA Curiosity's Stunning Images Show
NASA's Curiosity rover has sent pictures of blue-tinged sunset on Mars, showing dramatic difference with sunset when viewed from Earth.
The images were captured by Curiosity's Mast Camera on April 15. NASA explained that dust of size comparable to wavelengths of blue light caused light to scatter more to close to the sun than other parts of the sky.
"The colors come from the fact that the very fine dust is the right size so that blue light penetrates the atmosphere slightly more efficiently. When the blue light scatters off the dust, it stays closer to the direction of the sun than light of other colors does. The rest of the sky is yellow to orange, as yellow and red light scatter all over the sky instead of being absorbed or staying close to the sun," said Mark Lemmon of Texas A&M University who planned the observations.
Curiosity has been studying Martian environment ever since it landed in August 2012. The images of the sunset it sent were from 956th Martian day since the mission started. The rover is currently positioned in the Gale Crater on Mars.
