2021年06月05日
The Shining Clouds of Mars
Image Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, MSSS
Explanation: The weathered and layered face of Mount Mercou looms in the foreground of this mosaic from the Curiosity Mars rover’s Mast Camera. Made up of 21 individual images the scene was recorded just after sunset on March 19, the 3,063rd martian day of Curiosity’s on going exploration of the Red Planet. In the martian twilight high altitude clouds still shine above, reflecting the light from the Sun below the local horizon like the noctilucent clouds of planet Earth. Though water ice clouds drift through the thin martian atmosphere, these wispy clouds are also at extreme altitudes and could be composed of frozen carbon dioxide, crystals of dry ice. Curiosity’s Mast Cam has also imaged iridescent or mother of pearl clouds adding subtle colors to the martian sky.
Tomorrow’s picture: sunrise on Earth
火星的明亮云朵
影像提供: NASA, JPL-Caltech, MSSS
说明: 在这幅来自好奇号火星车桅杆相机的拼接影像里，风化但层理分明的默库山看起来庞大无比。这幅影像，是由目前持续在探索火星的好奇号，摄于3月19日（第3,063火星日）的21张照片组合而成。影像中，暮光时分悬在火星高空的明亮云朵，酷似地球的夜光云，仍然在反射已沉到地平面下方的太阳之阳光。虽然在火星，偶而会有水冰云漂流在稀薄的大气里，但这些出现在极高纬度的羽状云彩，可能的组成是冻结的二氧化碳（干冰晶）。好奇号火的桅杆相机，也拍过彩云（或称贝母云）这种为火星天空增添风采的云朵。
明日的图片: sunrise on Earth
