PIA23241: Curiosity Sees Drifting Clouds Over Gale Crater
NASA's Curiosity Mars rover imaged these drifting clouds on May 12, 2019, the 2,405th Martian day, or sol, of the mission, using its Navigation Cameras (Navcams).
 Target Name:  Mars
 Is a satellite of:  Sol (our sun)
 Mission:  Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) 
 Spacecraft:  Curiosity
 Instrument:  Navcam (MSL) 
 Product Size:  1022 x 1022 pixels (w x h) 
 Produced By:  JPL 
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA23241.tif (894.7 kB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA23241.jpg (33.78 kB)  

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NASA's Curiosity Mars rover imaged these drifting clouds on May 12, 2019, the 2,405th Martian day, or sol, of the mission, using its black-and-white Navigation Cameras (Navcams).

These are likely water-ice clouds about 19 miles (31 kilometers) above the surface. They are also "noctilucent" clouds, meaning they are so high that they are still illuminated by the Sun, even when it's night at Mars' surface. Scientists can watch when light leaves the clouds and use this information to infer their altitude.

More information about Curiosity is online at http://www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/.

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL-Caltech

Image Addition Date:
2019-05-29