Curiosity rover reveals blue Mars dusk

NASA’s Curiosity rover has provided a dramatically different perspective of the normally sepia-hued Mars: a blue sunset.

Taken in between dust storms, the unusually coloured sunset was captured as part of the rover’s ongoing exploration of the so-called “Red Planet.”

"The colors come from the fact that the very fine dust is the right size so that blue light penetrates the atmosphere slightly more efficiently," Mark Lemmon of Texas A&M University said.

"When the blue light scatters off the dust, it stays closer to the direction of the sun than light of other colors does. The rest of the sky is yellow to orange, as yellow and red light scatter all over the sky instead of being absorbed or staying close to the sun."

For more information about the rover’s mission, visit the Curiosity Rover website.