NASA's Curiosity on Mars sent back images of sun rays for the first time as the rover begins a study on clouds and their composition high up in the atmosphere.

A close-up of the sun rays seen by Curiosity on Feb. 2 (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS). Martian clouds, which are mostly made from ice crystals of both water and carbon dioxide, normally ...

The new images are part of the rover's newest twilight cloud survey, which is a continuance of its observations in 2021 of noctilucent, or night-shining, clouds.

NASA's Curiosity Mars rover captured these "sun rays" shining through clouds at sunset on Feb. 2, 2023, the 3,730th Martian day, or sol, of the mission.