Noctilucent cloud on Earth are something quite spectacular , lean structures so gamy that they can still catch sunlight long after sunset , making them shine in many colors during twilight – noctilucentmeans night - scramble . However , they are not an Earth single – NASA ’s Curiosity has seen them on Mars .

On the Red Planet , the clouds are not just water chalk like on Earth , but can also be made of dry chicken feed . Most of the slender Martian atmosphere is atomic number 6 dioxide , so rooted carbon dioxide also mastermind itself in clouds .

Researchers account that a great time to see these clouds from Gale Crater , whereCuriosityis turn up , is the other Autumn . Videos from the rover ’s MastCam show the cloud changing colors as the dark fall down .

“ I ’ll always remember the first meter I saw those iridescent cloud and was sure at first it was some color artifact , ” Mark Lemmon , an atmospheric scientist with the Space Science Institute , say in astatement . “ Now it ’s become so predictable that we can project our shots in advance ; the clouds show up at exactly the same fourth dimension of year . ”

The cloud were seen for the first time by NASA ’s Pathfinder all the way back in 1997 . curio has been on Mars since 2012 , but it took until 2019 to see them . tenacity has been on Mars for almost four years but has not seen them yet . Some region of Mars might have proficient conditions to form them compared to others . As it fend , Gale Crater might be safe than Jezero Crater , where Perseverance is exploring .

A major role might be played by gravity waves , vertical wave moving through a fluid , like the waves on the sea . These atmospheric motions , combined with the right season ( so temperature and evaporation ) , might be the mix to make them happen .

“ C dioxide was not have a bun in the oven to be condensing into ice here , so something is cool down it to the full point that it could happen . But Martian gravitational attraction moving ridge are not in full understand and we ’re not entirely sure what is cause twilight clouds to organise in one situation but not another , ” Lemmon say .

A paper discussing the clouds was published last year in the journalGeophysical Research Letters .