A recent photo from NASA’s Curiosity rover gives an idea of what Mars would look like under skies that resemble our own on Earth. Here’s a look.
Mars, with its rust-hued surface, is known as the red planet for a reason.
A recent photo from NASA, though, gives an idea of what our celestial neighbor would look like under skies that resemble our own. One of the U.S. space agency’s two rovers wandering the Martian iron oxide-infused surface recently pulled together a composite panoramic image of a region of the planet that, to viewers, may be reminiscent of an Earthly sunset.
Curiosity has spent more than a decade scouring Mars for clues that the red planet could once have been home to life. Its findings have transformed our understanding of a place where NASA and billionaire Elon Musk‘s SpaceX have interest in sending humans in the years ahead.
Along the way, Curiosity has made some extraordinary finds and captured some stunning vistas. The latest came in November when the car-sized robot sent what NASA called a “postcard” from the ridge of the mountain it’s spent more than a decade climbing.
Here’s everything to know about Curiosity, and the recent striking photo it collected.
NASA’s Curiosity rover captures image of Mars resembling Earthly dusk
NASA’s Curiosity rover on Mars used its navigation cameras to capture panoramas at two times of day on Nov. 18, 2025. Color was later added to the merged mosaic “for an artistic interpretation of the scene,” NASA said in an image description posted Dec. 30.
The final product appears to resemble something of a sunrise or sunset on Earth.
When Curiosity snapped the images, the rover was atop a ridge of the 3-mile-high Mount Sharp, which rises from the floor of the Gale Crater where it landed 14 years ago. NASA referred to the ridge as a boxwork formation, part of a phenomena that are potentially billions of years old crisscrossing the lower foothills of Mount Sharp.
In the mosaic, the Gale Crater’s rim can be seen about 25 miles away near the horizon. Curiosity’s wheel tracks are also visible, showing the rover’s winding path.
What is NASA’s Curiosity rover?
NASA’s Curiosity rover, along with Perseverance, is one of the agency’s two car-sized robots exploring the Martian surface for signs that the planet was once habitable.
Scientists believe the geology of Mars may hold valuable clues about past ancient life, and so the robotic vehicles, controlled remotely from Earth, have slowly navigated the rocky terrain to scoop up and collect intriguing samples.
The Curiosity rover began its voyage to Mars in November 2011, landing in August 2012 in the Gale Crater on the boundary between Mars’ cratered southern highlands and its smooth, northern plains. While exploring the crater, believed to have formed 3.7 billion years ago, Curiosity has collected 42 powderized rock samples with the drill on the end of its robotic arm.
Perseverance also snapped ‘enhanced’ daylight photo of Mars
Perseverance also recently snapped a similar daylight-esque image of its own while exploring Mars.
In August, NASA released a panoramic scene of Mars that the agency described as “one of the sharpest” Perseverance had ever collected. The mosaic of 96 images, edited with color-enhancing technology, unveiled the Martian landscape under an Earth-like sky that NASA said in a press release was “deceptively” blue.
Since reaching Mars in 2021, Perseverance has been exploring inside – and now on top of – the Jezero Crater, which scientists believe formed 3.9 billion years ago from a massive impact.
In fact, in September 2025, NASA officials confirmed that one of Perseverance’s finds contained a potential biosignature.
Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@gannett.com