(Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS) (opens in new tab)

The images were captured by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) and show the large dust storm that enveloped Mars, causing NASA's Opportunity rover to lose contact with Earth. The effects of a dust storm that blanketed Mars in 2018. These usually take place in the spring or summer. The dust storms of Mars are the largest in the solar system, capable of blanketing the entire planet and lasting for months. Dust is also a permanent part of the atmosphere, with higher amounts of it in the northern fall and winter, and lower amounts in the northern spring and summer. Giant dust devils routinely kick up the oxidized iron dust that covers Mars' surface. Every spring, some of the mass within these caps sublimates to rejoin the atmosphere, and the caps visibly shrink as a result,' ESA stated. 'Each winter, up to a third of the mass in Mars' atmosphere condenses to form an icy layer at each of the planet's poles. 'The lower and middle levels of Mars' atmosphere appear to be coupled to the upper levels: there's a clear link between them throughout the martian year,' says Beatriz Sánchez-Cano, a planetary scientist at the University of Leicester, UK. These seasonal changes to the ice caps affect Mars' atmosphere, which responds as one large interconnected system, according to a statement from ESA. Mars' ice caps - made of water ice and carbon dioxide, shrink and grow in response to the seasons. Length of seasons on Mars and Earth according to NASA Science. Like Earth, Mars has four seasons but due to the Red Planet's eccentric orbit, the length of each season varies more than on Earth, according to NASA science (opens in new tab).

The average temperature on Mars is about minus 80 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 60 degrees Celsius), although it can vary from minus 195 F (minus 125 C) near the poles during the winter to as much as a comfortable 70 F (20 C) at midday near the equator. Mars is much colder than Earth due to the thin atmosphere and the fact it is farther from the sun. However, for reasons that are still poorly understood, the Martian atmosphere thinned. Orbital pictures show vast river plains and possible ocean boundaries, while several Mars rovers have found evidence of water-soaked rocks on the surface (such as hematite or clay). According to NASA, some surface features suggest that Mars experienced huge floods about 3.5 billion years ago. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS) (opens in new tab)Įarly in its history Mars had a thick enough atmosphere for water to run on its surface. The white specks are salt deposits found within a dry channel, a clue to its watery past. This image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows the Bosporos Planum plain on the Red Planet.

In the dust of this planet