NASA's Perseverance rover has given us a great look at a weather phenomenon that's very familiar to folks who live in desert regions here on Earth.
The car-sized Perseverance captured video of a dust devil swirling on the western rim of Mars' Jezero Crater on Aug. 30, 2023.
Mission team members calculated that the little twister was about 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) from Perseverance at the time and moving east to west at about 12 mph (19 kph).
They determined it to be roughly 200 feet (60 meters) wide and got an estimated height on the object, too, even though its upper reaches are out of frame.
Source
The car-sized Perseverance captured video of a dust devil swirling on the western rim of Mars' Jezero Crater on Aug. 30, 2023.
Mission team members calculated that the little twister was about 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) from Perseverance at the time and moving east to west at about 12 mph (19 kph).
They determined it to be roughly 200 feet (60 meters) wide and got an estimated height on the object, too, even though its upper reaches are out of frame.
Source