NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover Sends Holiday Postcard from Red Planet, Capturing Two Sides of a Martian Sunset.
In a creative display of robotic ingenuity, NASA's Mars exploration team has sent a holiday postcard from the Red Planet, merging two panoramic images taken at vastly different times of day on November 18, 2025. The rover captured a sweeping vista at 4:15 p.m. local time on the 4,722nd Martian sol and another at 8:20 a.m. on the 4,723rd sol โ creating an otherworldly view that showcases both dawn and dusk on Mars.
To enhance the image and bring out distinct features in the Martian landscape, the team added color to the merged panorama, with blue representing the morning scene and yellow signifying the afternoon one. This artistic interpretation pays homage to similar images taken by the rover in 2023 and 2021, which utilized a similar technique to highlight key details.
The resulting "postcard" offers an exclusive glimpse into the Martian environment during different seasons of the planet's orbit around the sun โ with this particular image capturing the essence of two contrasting solar times on Mars.
In a creative display of robotic ingenuity, NASA's Mars exploration team has sent a holiday postcard from the Red Planet, merging two panoramic images taken at vastly different times of day on November 18, 2025. The rover captured a sweeping vista at 4:15 p.m. local time on the 4,722nd Martian sol and another at 8:20 a.m. on the 4,723rd sol โ creating an otherworldly view that showcases both dawn and dusk on Mars.
To enhance the image and bring out distinct features in the Martian landscape, the team added color to the merged panorama, with blue representing the morning scene and yellow signifying the afternoon one. This artistic interpretation pays homage to similar images taken by the rover in 2023 and 2021, which utilized a similar technique to highlight key details.
The resulting "postcard" offers an exclusive glimpse into the Martian environment during different seasons of the planet's orbit around the sun โ with this particular image capturing the essence of two contrasting solar times on Mars.