Blue Sand Dune on The Red Planet Mars! See New Photo from NASA
NASA recently released the photo showing "a more complex structure" than dunes surrounding it.
NASA has released photo of a large blue sand dune on Mars captured by its Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's (MRO) camera. The picture which was spotted on Mars' Lyot Crater region was captured on January 24, 2018. NASA recently released the photo showing "a more complex structure" than dunes surrounding it. NASA's Curiosity Mars rover has previously shown sand dunes the size of football fields as well as small ones on the planet.
While nothing has been confirmed, researchers think it might be made of finer material than nearby dunes. According to their press release the dune "appearing like the turquoise blue in enhanced colour, is made of finer material and/or has a different composition than the surrounding". The MRO was released into space in 2005 to study the history of water on Mars.
Inverse quoted Alfred McEwen, one of the scientists who run the High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment — HiRISE — camera that took this photo," The images are given min-max stretches in each individual colour image to increase contrast. The dunes are actually grey, but appear relatively blue after such a stretch because most of Mars is red."
The sandstorm on Mars has currently silenced NASA's solar-powered Opportunity rover. While the Curiosity rover has not been affected and even posed for a dusty "selfie." While Opportunity rover is powered by sunlight, Curiosity has a nuclear-powered battery that runs day and night. NASA's Curiosity rover that has been studying Martian soil at Gale Crater has grown in size. It is now officially a 'planet-encircling' dust event.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 26, 2018 08:46 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).