The latest selfie by NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover has captured an unexpected guest: a Martian dust devil.
Resembling a small pale puff, the twirling dust devil popped up 3 miles behind the rover during this month’s photo shoot.
Dust devils, a combination of air and dust, are common on Mars.
“Having the dust devil in the background makes it a classic,” Wu said in a statement.
The picture — which also shows the rover’s latest sample borehole on the surface — marks 1,500 sols, or Martian days, for Perseverance.
An unexpected visitor was captured in the most recent selfie taken by NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover: a Martian dust devil.
During this month’s photo shoot, the whirling dust devil appeared three miles behind the rover, looking like a tiny, pale puff. On Mars, dust devils—a mixture of air and dust—are prevalent.
The selfie, which was made public on Wednesday, is a combination of 59 photos that the rover’s robotic arm’s camera took, according to NASA.
Megan Wu, an imaging scientist with Malin Space Science Systems, the company that built the camera, said that the hour-long process of making all the arm movements required to collect the images was “worth it.”.
According to Wu’s statement, “It’s a classic because of the dust devil in the background.”.
The image, which also displays the rover’s most recent surface sample borehole, signifies 1,500 sols, or Martian days, for Perseverance. 1,541 days on Earth is the equivalent of that.
Drilling into dozens of rocks produces the red dust that covers perseverance. In order to eventually return to Earth, Perseverance, which landed on Mars in 2021, is gathering samples from Jezero Crater, an old lakebed and river delta that may contain traces of previous microbial life.
