As NASA’s Perseverance rover continues to roam the Martian surface, it captured a strange and intriguing “blue” sunset that could give scientists more information about how light scattering occurs in the Martian atmosphere.
The image was recently shared on That’s why many people refer to it as a “blue” sunset. However, it’s not the color of the Martian sunset that scientists are focusing on.
This image, taken at Sol 842, will help scientists learn more about light scattering, which means how light behaves when it interacts with something that contains particles or the boundary between two different media.
It’s hoped that this image of a “blue” sunset on Mars will help scientists learn a little more about how light reacts with the Martian atmosphere and how this phenomenon occurs on Earth. It could help us better understand the state of Mars’ atmosphere, and perhaps if the way light is scattered changes in future images, we could learn more about how that atmosphere evolves going forward.
We’ve also seen simulations of what a sunrise on Mars might look like, and witnessed the same blue hue as the blue sunset image taken by Perseverance this month.
Essentially, it all comes down to understanding how the sun’s rays interact directly with the Martian atmosphere compared to Earth’s. On Earth, blue light is scattered more throughout the day, causing the sky to appear blue. On Earth, red and orange lights are more dispersed during sunset and sunrise, giving the iconic look we see in many photographs.
On Mars, things are a little different. During the day, light is distributed differently on Mars, giving the Martian sky a reddish tint. Therefore, as the light begins to fade and the Sun approaches the horizon, the blue light shines brighter, giving Mars this “blue sunset”.
Additionally, NASA says images of Mars at dusk and sunset help scientists determine how far into the atmosphere Martian dust extends, allowing them to look for ice and dust clouds.
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