Nasa Orbiter saw a stunning view of the clouds of Martian

corridorThe longest run Mars The mission has returned a never since the view before visiting the Volcano above the red planet, before the dawn.

On May 2, as the sunset of Martian Horizon, got to the Odyssey spacecraft Arsia MonsA swelling, long volcanic, puncture a glowing band greenish haze in the upper expanse of the planet.

The 12-mile high volcano – nearly twice the length of the Hawaii’s first loa – fog points, which came like a monument in ancient yesterday. the place Snapshot is both visual arrest and enlightening science.

“We chose the arsia ‘mons we see the summit of the morning,” says Jonathon Hill, leading the operations on the Arizona State University, in a statement“And it didn’t disappoint.”

To get this view, Odyssey should do something that is not originally built for. The orbiter, flying around Mars Since 2001, usually points to the camera directly to the map map the surface of the planet. But for the past two years, scientists have begun to rotate the spacecraft 90 degrees to view the horizon. That adjustment allows NASA to study how dust and ice changes in the clouds in times.

Although image is still a aerial view, the vantage point is on the horizon, similar to how astronaut See the horizon on the ground 250 miles over the planet at the international space station. From that height, the ground does not fill their entire view – have enough distance and sight for them to see the Curned Edge on the planet in black space. Odyssey flies on top of Mars In part of the same high.

Arsia mons sit at the southern end of a ragged trio of volcanoes called tharsis montes. Tharsis region is at home The largest volcano of solar system. The lack of plate tectonics on the red planet allows them to grow many times larger than anywhere in the world.

Together, they rule the Martian’s Landscape and sometimes covered with clouds, especially in early hours. But not only in the clouds – it is made of ice ice, different from the most common carbon dioxide cloud. Arsia Mons is the cloudiest of three.

Scientists have recently studied a particular cloud formation that occurred above the mountain, which was melted the Arsian cloud. The whole side, Streaking 1,100 miles on southern MarsIt lasts just about three hours in the morning in the spring before losing hot sunshine. It was formed by the strong winds pressed on the mountain side.

Dark canopy shown in Odyssey’s new image, according to NASA, is called Bhet Cloud Cloud. This widespread seasonal system is the planet’s equatorial drapes if Mars is farthest from DAY.

This is the fourth side of the Odyssey side since 2023, and it the first one to show a volcano breaking the clouds.

“We see some important Seasone differences in images images,” says Michael D. Smith, a scene on the planet, in a statement. “It gives us new signs of how Mars’ conditions have evolved over time.”