Curiosity Spots Iridescent ‘Mother of Pearl’ Clouds

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover spotted these iridescent, or “mother of pearl,” clouds on March 5, 2021, the 3,048th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. Seen here are five images stitched together from a much wider panorama taken by the rover’s Mast Camera, or Mastcam. The full panorama (Figure A) was stitched together from 23 images.

Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego built and operates Mastcam. A division of Caltech, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California built the Curiosity rover and manages the Curiosity rover for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

For more about Curiosity:

mars.nasa.gov/msl/home/

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