Clouds
This true color image shows the eastern sky, 30 degrees above the
horizon at 05:13 local solar time on Sol 39. The bright streaks are probably ice clouds
which have formed during the night. In the true colour image, the clouds appear to be blue
compared to the background. This is a real effect. Unlike the red dust, the clouds are
almost invisible at infrared wavelengths.
The clouds are also moving. In order to create this image, the individual, single color, data frames have had to be shifted with respect to each other. The motion indicates that the clouds are moving from the north-east to the south-west.
This animation shows three images taken on the morning of Sol 16.
Between frames, you can see the clouds moving across the screen from the northeast. The
clouds are thought to be about 10 miles high and moving in 15 mile per hour winds.
Pink stratus clouds are coming from the northeast at about 15 miles per
hour (6.7 meters/second) at an appoximate height of ten miles (16 kilometers) above the
surface. The clouds consist of water ice condensed on reddish dust 
particles suspended in
the atmosphere. Clouds on Mars are sometimes localized and can sometimes cover entire
regions, but have not yet been observed to cover the entire planet. The image was taken by
the Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) on Sol 16 about forty minutes before sunrise showing
areas of the eastern Martian horizon.
This is the first color image ever taken from the surface of Mars of an
overcast sky. Featured are pink stratus clouds coming from the northeast at about 15 miles
per hour (6.7 meters/second) at an appoximate height of ten miles (16 kilometers) above
the surface. The clouds consist of water ice condensed on reddish dust particles suspended
in the atmosphere. Clouds on Mars are sometimes localized and can sometimes cover entire
regions, but have not yet been observed to cover the entire planet. The image was taken
about an hour and forty minutes before sunrise by the Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) on
Sol 16 at about ten degrees up from the eastern Martian horizon.
This is the first image
ever taken from the surface of Mars of an overcast sky. Featured are stratus clouds coming
from the northeast at about 15 miles per hour (6.7 meters/second) at an approximate height
of ten miles (16 kilometers) above the surface. The "you are here" notation
marks where Earth was situated in the sky at the time the image was taken. Scientists had
hoped to see Earth in this image, but the cloudy conditions prevented a clear viewing.
Similar images will be taken in the future with the hope of capturing a view of Earth.
From Mars, Earth would appear as a tiny blue dot similar to how a star would appear to an
earthbound observer. Pathfinders' imaging system will not be able to resolve Earths' moon.
The clouds consist of water ice condensed on reddish dust particles suspended in the
atmosphere. Clouds on Mars are sometimes localized and can sometimes cover entire regions,
but have not yet been observed to cover the entire planet. The image was taken about an
hour and forty minutes before sunrise by the Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) on Sol 16 at
about ten degrees up from the eastern Martian horizon.