NASA’s Perseverance rover on Mars is surveying some extraordinary phenomena on the planet and recorded a dust devil blowing across the planet.
NASA says cameras captured the Martian dust devil on Aug 30, 2023, which is known as the 899th Martian Day of the mission.
Check out the amazing video below from NASA’s Navacams.
NASA says they sped up the video 20 times and created with 21 image frames taken four seconds apart.
The dust devil was moving at 12 mph east to west along the western rim of Mars’ Jezero Crater. Plus, the dust storm was about a mile high and 2.5 miles from a location dubbed “Thorofare Ridge.”
Dust devils or dust storms occur on Earth as well, especially in the Southwestern United States.
A dust storm is massive walls of dust and sand that are blown into the area by strong winds.
On Mars, NASA scientists say the Martian versions of dust devils can grow bigger.
This research is all part of the Perseverance’s mission on the planet. Capturing this Martian dust devil will help scientists understand how weather occurs on Mars and improve their weather models.