No, this is not a rainbow and why are there no rainbows on Mars?
Since the Mars Perseverance Rover arrived at the red planet on February 18, 2021 , it has sent back many photographs of the surface of Mars. Not only has he made incredible shots of the territory, he has also captured its atmosphere.
In one of the photographs of the Martian atmosphere you can see an arc, similar to the rainbow that we see in our atmosphere. The similarity has drawn so much attention that some are wondering if it is a rainbow from the Martian planet. It would be amazing to see this phenomenon on Mars!
But, NASA has explained that it is not a rainbow . What is the arch that is seen in the Martian sky? The arc is a flare from the Mars Perseverance Rover ‘s camera lens .
Now, the question arises: are rainbows possible on Mars?
The short answer is no. The explanation is simple.
Why are there no rainbows on Mars?
Rainbows are not possible on Mars. Why? Rainbows are created by light reflecting off water droplets, but there isn’t enough water on Mars to condense, and the extreme cold prevents liquid water in the atmosphere.
Thanks to this photograph today we discover something curious: rainbows do not exist on Mars, they are exclusive to a planet with enough water in the atmosphere such as Earth that reflects light and thus we can see the colors that make up the rainbow.
In Curious Planet we have published the curiosities of Mars, the red planet , so you can take a look and discover more curious facts about Mars. By the way, did you know that there is a rare natural phenomenon called ‘fire rainbows’ ? Well, there I leave you that other piece of information.
