The iridescent cloud reveals new clues about ice formation in the Martian atmosphere (no little green men, sorry).

The Sun sets differently on Mars. Part of that is due to its distance from the star (an average of 142 million miles versus Earth’s roughly 93 million miles), but it also has to do with the planet’s atmosphere. A great example of the effects can be seen in the Red Planet’s noctilucent clouds.

Red-and-green-tinted clouds drift through the Martian sky in a new set of images captured by NASA's Curiosity rover using its Mastcam—its main set of "eyes." Taken over 16 minutes on Jan. 17 (the 4,426th Martian day,

NASA’s Curiosity rover has captured breathtaking images of red and green-tinted clouds drifting across the Martian sky. These clouds, called noctilucent clouds (which means “night shining” in Latin), appear at twilight and are visible because the setting sun scatters light through them.

American space agency NASA publishes a short video showing iridescent clouds moving in the thin Martian atmosphere, as seen by the Curiosity rover