Mars’ secrets revealed

Now in its sixth week on Mars, Curiosity is headed towards its next target—Jake Matijevic—a pyramid shaped rock named after a Curiosity team member who died recently after a long battle with asthma. An advanced instrument—Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer—will make contact with the rock and analyse its compositionPhoto Credit: NASA

Dust devils are not as dangerous as they sound. Little siblings of tornado, they form in clear weather when the temperature of the air above the ground rises due to the sun’s heat. The hot air rises through the cooler air picking up dirt, as it moves up. This dust devil occurred on Mars in February this year. Earth has its fair share of dust devils, but Martian dust storms can go up much higher. This one reached up to 20 kilometresPhoto Credit: NASA

Pictures taken by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in May 2012 provide a glimpse of the actively shifting sand dunes on Mars. Darker and more mobile than the Earth's sands, the dunes of Mars have puzzled scientists because the static atmosphere of the planet is not conducive to rapidly shifting dunes. The sand, scientists believe, is very mobile and accounts for the rapid shift. The rapid movement is considered to cause erosion on a large portion of the planet’s surfacePhoto Credit: NASA

Mars' atmosphere is indeed peculiar. Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has taken pictures of snowflakes of carbon dioxide on the planet. Previous images had established that the Red Planet’s atmosphere consists of carbon dioxide clouds. The latest observation indicates that these clouds precipitate as snowfallPhoto Credit: NASA

There has been speculation about the presence of water on Martian surface. Images sent by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter show dark streaks up to four metres wide running down the sides of some slopes on the planet. Scientists say this is strong evidence of the presence of water. By comparing images of these gullies, taken at different times, scientists have determined that some liquid has flowed down these gulliesPhoto Credit: NASA

An image from Curiosity Rover shows Phobos—one of Mars' two moons—as it casts a partial solar eclipse. Such eclipses are more common on Mars than on Earth because the Red Planet's moons are closer and travel faster. There is in fact a particular period that is known as the eclipse season on MarsPhoto Credit: NASA