NASA Shows Planet Mars in New Panoramic Photos

Planet Mars represents an unfathomably huge source of study material for astronomers. Our neighboring planet has many similarities with Earth, which means that we can’t totally ignore the possibility that some extraterrestrial life forms could dwell “right next door” to us.

Surely, alien life forms don’t necessarily mean the little green men that we’ve all seen in sci-fi movies. Life on Mars could only be microbial, and such a hypothetical discovery could be truly groundbreaking for the entire scientific community. NASA astronomers continue to explore the Red Planet remotely, although they realistically hope to send humans there in the near future as well.

NASA has now released new panoramic photos of Mars, and you are free to feast your eyes below:

Doug Ellison, who’s a Curiosity engineer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of NASA in Southern California, explained:

Anyone who’s been to a national park knows the scene looks different in the morning than it does in the afternoon,

Capturing two times of day provides dark shadows because the lighting is coming in from the left and the right like you might have on a stage  —  but instead of stage lights, we’re relying on the sun.

The surface of Mars is characterized by a barren and desolate landscape. It is predominantly composed of rocky terrain, while there are extensive plains, valleys, mountains, and impact craters scattered across the planet’s surface. Mars has a reddish-brown hue owing to the presence of iron oxide, or rust, in the planet’s soil and rocks.

Mars also lacks significant bodies of liquid water, and its atmosphere is extremely thin, consisting mostly of carbon dioxide. In other words, trying to survive there without a cosmic suit would truly be suicidal.

Dust storms occasionally appear across the Martian surface, engulfing large areas and hindering visibility. Overall, the Red Planet presents a rugged and inhospitable environment, although we may never know for sure how life might function in other environments except for that of the Earth.

Tommy Hunter

Tommy’s hobby has always been playing video games. He enjoys competing in video games tournaments and writing about his experience. It’s not a big surprise that he mostly covers the latest trends from the gaming industry.