While stargazing on Mars, the Curiosity Rover took pictures of the Earth and Venus.
Image/NASA
In a press release on June 16, NASA said that the Curiosity Rover took the snapshot of our home planet about 75 minutes after sunset on June 5, 2020. Curiosity aimed its Mast Camera, or Mastcam, at the heavens the 2,784th Martian day, or sol, of the mission.
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According to NASA, the brief photo session was partly to gauge the twilight brightness.
Image/NASA
In the photo above, you can see what Curiosity took. Even though the planets aren’t that visible, it’s an achievement for the rover.
Mastcam co-investigator Mark Lemmon said, “During this time of year on Mars, there’s more dust in the air to reflect sunlight, making it particularly bright.” He adds, “Even moderately bright stars were not visible when this image of Venus was taken. Earth also has bright twilights after some large volcanic eruptions.”
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The Curiosity Rover has also taken photos of our planet back in 2014. Since its landing in 2012, Curiosity has captured many celestial bodies like Mercury and Mars’ two moons, Phobos and Deimos.
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