First colour Sunset in Mars' Gale Crater

This beautiful 4 image sequence has been released by NASA showing sunset at Gale Crater , it's the first sunset observed in colour by Curiosity.

Click for full sized picture.

The images come from the left-eye camera of the rover's Mast Camera (Mastcam). The color has been calibrated and white-balanced to remove camera artifacts. Mastcam sees color very similarly to what human eyes see, although it is actually a little less sensitive to blue than people are.

Dust in the Martian atmosphere has fine particles that permit blue light to penetrate the atmosphere more efficiently than longer-wavelength colors. That causes the blue colors in the mixed light coming from the sun to stay closer to sun's part of the sky, compared to the wider scattering of yellow and red colors. The effect is most pronounced near sunset, when light from the sun passes through a longer path in the atmosphere than it does at mid-day.
mars.nasa.gov...

a reply to: gortex

Whats up with the sun in the first frame of that gif?



Notice the bulge at the bottom of the disk?

a reply to: intrptr

Given the available options I'd say camera effect.

originally posted by: intrptr
a reply to: gortex

Whats up with the sun in the first frame of that gif?

Notice the bulge at the bottom of the disk?

That is clearly an alien spaceship docking! Duh...

My guess would actually be artifact with the camera since these are time lapsed and they have been edited, so there might be a little splicing or fixing the images...Just forgot to remove the UFO...Dammit! lol

Amazing we are actually watching the sun setting on another planet..
We usually hear negative comments about humans, but moments like this is a testimant to the human race.

a reply to: intrptr

If you watch the full sized link to the pic the OP posted on that first frame you will see a very clear lens flare band that extends vertically from the sun up and down the whole frame image, so that bulge is a result of that. Nothing odd.