The Martian Dust Devil can be seen consuming smaller things in a series of images taken by navigation cameras on NASA’s patient rover.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhkizgkpzm4
Dust devils are formed by rising warm air and rotating columns.
Air near the planet’s surface is heated by contact with warm ground and rises through the dense, cold air above.
It starts to spin as other air moves along the surface and replaces the warmer air rise.
As the incoming air rises to the pillar, the rotating ice skater speeds up so that it brings its arms closer to his body.
The air that charges also picks up dust, creating a dusty demon.
“The Dust Devils play an important role in Mars weather patterns,” said Dr. Katie Stack Morgan, a researcher at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
“These phenomena indicate atmospheric conditions such as wind direction and velocity, and are responsible for about half of the dust in the atmosphere of Mars, so the dust devil is important.”
NASA’s Viking Orbiter in the 1970s was the first spacecraft to photograph the Dust Devils on Mars.
Twenty years later, the agency’s Pathfinder mission first took images from the surface, detecting the dust demon passing by the Lander.
The spirit and opportunity of the Twin Rovers was able to capture a significant share of the dusty whirlwind.
Curiosity is patience exploring a place called Mount Sharp in Gale Crater, opposite Mars.
Since landing in 2021, perseverance has whirlwind many occasions, including one on September 27, 2021. There, a group of Dust Devils danced across the Jeza Crater floor, and the rover used a super-cam microphone to record the first sounds of the Dust Devils on Mars.
Three dust devils can be seen in this image, taken on the rims of Jezero Crater by NASA’s Patience Mars Rover on January 25th, 2025. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI.
When I snapped a new image with patience about 1 km (0.6 miles), the large dust devil was about 65 m (210 feet) wide, but the smaller, and the driving dust demon was about 5 m (16 feet) wide.
Two other dust devils can also be seen in the background on the left and center.
Patience documented the scene as he explored the western edge of Mars’ Jezero Crater on January 25th, 2025.
“The patience scientist of the Institute of Space Sciences” said: “The patience scientist of the Institute of Space Sciences.”
“These mini-twisters wander the surface of Mars, pick up dust and lower the view of nearby areas.”
“If two dust devils arise from each other, they can either wipe them out or the stronger one can consume the weaker one and merge them.”
Source: www.sci.news
