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Click to see a larger image of the Martian sunset. Why is the sunset blue on Mars? Dust in the Martian atmosphere has fine particles that permit blue light to penetrate the atmosphere more efficiently than longer-wavelength colors. That causes the blue colors in the mixed light coming from the sun to stay closer to the sun's part of the sky, compared to the wider scattering of yellow and red colors. The effect is most pronounced near sunset, when light from the sun passes through a longer path in the atmosphere than it does at mid-day. The image, which was shot using Curiosity's Mast Camera (Mastcam), was done between dust storms, but some dust remained suspended high in the atmosphere. The sunset observations help researchers assess the vertical distribution of dust in the atmosphere. Just as colors are made more dramatic in sunsets on Earth, Martian sunsets make the blue near the sun's part of the sky much more prominent, while normal daylight makes the rusty color of the dust more prominent. --From the Editors at Netscape |
When the sun dips over the Martian horizon, it creates a sky tinged in eerie shades of blue--nothing like the brilliant pink, orange, purple and red sunsets to which we are treated on Earth every day.
