An incredible image of an avalanche on Mars catapulting dust across the planet’s surface has been shared online by Nasa.
Snapped by one of the space agency’s Mars satellites, the image finds last year pound climbing under a cliff of 1,640 meters (500 meters high).
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The dramatic dust explosion was detected by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in May 2019 and shared by Nasa on Monday.
Scientists are currently celebrating the 15th anniversary of the launch of MRO, one of the oldest spacecraft on the Red Planet.
Nasa said the avalanche, captured by the MRO’s High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera, was triggered by rising temperatures on Mars.
“As temperatures rise and ice evaporates, the destabilized ice blocks break loose and dust accumulates,” the space agency said.
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The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter launched in August 2005 from the Cape Canaveral Air For Station in Florida.
The veteran spacecraft studies temperatures in the thin atmosphere of Mars, peers underground with radar, and detects minerals on the planet’s surface.
So far, the satellite has given glimpses of dust devils, avalanches and more, Nasa said.
The image shared on Monday was taken when the satellite orbited the North Pole of Mars in the spring.
Facts of Mars
Here’s what you need to know about the Red Planet …
- Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun.
- It is named after the Roman god of war
- The land mass of Mars is very similar to Earth, but due to the difference in gravity you could jump three times higher than you can here
- Mars is mountainous and hosts the highest mountain known in the solar system called Olympus Mons, which is three times higher than Everest
- Mars is considered to be the second most habitable planet after Earth
- It takes the planet 687 Earth days to orbit the Sun.
- So far, there have been 39 missions to Mars, but only 16 of these have been successful
“When seasonal ice evaporated in the spring, these 1,640-foot (500-meter-high) cliffs began to creep in,” Nasa said.
“Such cliffs discover the deepest time scales on the planet, and expose the many layers of ice and dust that have settled over different time periods.
“Like the rings of a tree, each layer has a story to tell scientists about how the environment changed.”
Nasa marked MRO’s 15th anniversary on August 12 with a blog post featuring some of its best photos.
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In other news, an eerie panorama captured by Curiosity from the surface of Mars is the most detailed ever.
Nasa recently lost mysterious control of Curiosity on the surface of Mars.
And the water that once flowed on Mars contained just the right ingredients to support life, scientists say.
What do you think of the Nasa photo? Let us know in the comments!
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