This enhanced color panorama was taken by Curiosity's Left Mastcam after sunset on Sol 3724 (27 January, 2023). It shows an iridescent high altitude cloud, likely made from CO2 ices.
The sun has already set on the ground, but continues to illuminate this cloud which is likely at 60-80km altitude.
The iridescence (rainbow effect) is caused by diffraction at sub µm ice particles.
More information:
doi.org/10.1029/2024GL111183
This panorama was stitched from 14 MAST_LEFT images from the PDS. The individual images were color calibrated to approximate what the human eye would see.
The panorama was further enhanced to emphasise cloud structure and subtle color variations.
See here for an unenhanced variant of the panorama:
flic.kr/p/2qJwraX
LMST: Sol-03724M18:52:13
Sun: Az: 276.2 deg, El: -5.9 deg
Rationale: Characterize potentially iridescent ice clouds in twilight
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/Simeon Schmauß
