Nasa’s Mars Perseverance snaps a selfie as a Martian dust devil blows by
The composite of 59 images taken by the rover’s robot arm camera took an hour to capture
The latest selfie by Nasa’s Perseverance rover on Mars has captured an unexpected guest: a Martian dust devil.
Resembling a small pale puff, the twirling dust devil popped up 5km (three miles) behind the rover during this month’s photo shoot.
Released on Wednesday, the selfie is a composite of 59 images taken by the camera on the end of the rover’s robotic arm, according to Nasa.
It took an hour to perform all the arm movements necessary to gather the images, “but it’s worth it,” said Megan Wu, an imaging scientist from Malin Space Science Systems, which built the camera.
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“Having the dust devil in the background makes it a classic,” Wu said in a statement.