US, WASHINGTON (ORDO NEWS) — Mars rover Curiosity, whose work is supervised by NASA, presented the world an amazing photo of Earth and Venus in the dust of Martian twilight.
At the beginning of this month, the rover performed a survey of the stars, capturing a view of the Earth and Venus immediately after sunset. Two planets were seen at a short distance from each other, eclipsing the stars in the dusty sky.
The Curiosity Rover (Curiosity) has been on Mars for almost 3,000 days. NASA is currently preparing to launch another Persistent rover.
Despite the fact that the main task of Curiosity is to drill holes and study Martian soil samples, the rover is able to look up. On June 5 this year, approximately 75 minutes after sunset, the Mars rover sent its mast camera (MastCam) into the sky.
A panoramic image, consisting of two separate images, shows the Earth and Venus in the form of highlights on a dark background of the dust-filled sky of Mars. The photographs were taken on the 2784th Sol, the Martian mission day.
Astronomers expected the two planets to look like very bright stars. But the combination of dust and distance somewhat reduced their visual impact.
The fact is that this time of year on Mars is especially dusty. As a result, the dust reflects more sunlight, making twilight unusually bright. NASA scientists note that during the photographing, even moderately bright stars were not visible.
This is not the first time that Curiosity uses its cameras to explore the Martian sky.
In 2014, the NASA rover managed to photograph the Earth and the Moon. An incredible photo was taken on the 529th day of the Curiosity mission from a distance of about 160 million km.
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