SOL

Old Glory on the Red Planet

This close-up view of the United States flag plate on NASA’s Perseverance was acquired on June 28, 2025 (the 1,548th day, or sol, of its mission to Mars), by the WATSON (Wide Angle Topographic Sensor for Operations and eNgineering) imager on the turret at the end of the rover’s Mars robotic arm.

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Sunset on Mars

On May 19th, 2005, NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Spirit captured this stunning view as the Sun sank below the rim of Gusev crater on Mars. This panoramic camera mosaic was taken around 6:07 in the evening of the rover’s 489th Martian day, or sol.

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A Rainbow-colored “Feather” in the Martian Sky

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover captured this feather-shaped iridescent cloud just after sunset on Jan. 27, 2023, the 3,724th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. Studying the colors in iridescent clouds tells scientists something about particle size within the clouds and how they grow over time. These clouds were captured as part of a follow-on imaging campaign to study noctilucent, or “night-shining” clouds, which started in 2021. This scene made up of 28 individual images captured by the rover’s Mast Camera, or Mastcam.

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