Incredible photo of Venus and Earth taken from the surface of Mars by Nasa's Curiosity rover

NASA's Curiosity rover has captured a snapshot of what Venus and Earth look like from Mars.

You'll need to look closely though as both planets appear as tiny dots when viewed from the planet's surface.

Nasa explained on its website: "NASA's Curiosity Mars rover occasionally stops to stargaze.

"Recently, it captured a shot of Earth and Venus in the Red Planet's night sky.

"Curiosity aimed its Mast Camera, or Mastcam, at the heavens about 75 minutes after sunset on June 5, 2020, the 2,784th Martian day, or sol, of the mission.

"A two-image twilight panorama reveals Earth in one frame and Venus in the other.

"Both planets appear as mere pinpoints of light, owing to a combination of distance and dust in the air; they would normally look like very bright stars."

The quick photo taking session was partly to gauge the brightness of twilight on Mars.

Mastcam co-investigator Mark Lemmon said: "Even moderately bright stars were not visible when this image of Venus was taken.

"Earth also has bright twilights after some large volcanic eruptions."

The bottom of the combined image shows Tower Butte.

This is part of the Gale Crater that Curiosity has been exploring since it landed there in 2012.

The rover's predecessor died on the planet after a bad storm.

Nasa has the longterm goal of sending a manned mission to Mars in the 2030s.

Mars facts

Here's what you need to know about the red planet…

  • Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun
  • It is named after the Roman god of war
  • The landmass of Mars is very similar to Earth but due to the difference in gravity you could jump three times higher there than you can here
  • Mars is mountainous and hosts the tallest mountain known in the Solar System called Olympus Mons, which is three times higher than Everest
  • Mars is considered to be the second most habitable planet after Earth
  • It takes the planet 687 Earth days to orbit the Sun
  • So far, there has been 39 missions to Mars but only 16 of these have been successful

In other space news, six billion Earth-like planets could be awaiting our discovery in the Milky Way.

Over 30 alien races could be living alongside us in the Milky Way, according to a new study.

And, a conspiracy theory is claiming the world will end this week.

When do you think humans will land on Mars? Let us know in the comments…

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