While scientists look to relocate in Mars, NASA’s Curiosity rover stargazes at Earth up on the Red Planet.
On 5 June, the robot snapped a thought-provoking view of the distant Earth and Venus from the surface of Mars using its Mast Camera 75 minutes after a Martian sunset.
The picture reveals Earth and Venus as little specks against nighttime skies. A peek of Martian rock is seen in the foreground.
The image is a combination of two photos capturing the individual planets before being stitched together for a full view.
Earth and Venus would have presented themselves as ultra-bright stars in the image had the Martian atmosphere not been obscured by high-altitude dust during this time of year.
Mark Lemmon, Mastcam co-investigator of the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado, described that “even moderately bright stars were not visible when this image of Venus was taken.”
Earth was also supposed to glimmer with “bright twilights after some large volcanic eruptions,” he added.
“Both planets appear as mere pinpoints of light owing to a combination of distance and dust in the air; they would normally look like bright stars.” Image via NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/SSI
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