On October 10, 2018, the device aboard the ESA Mars Express spacecraft received a photo of a strange cloud on the Red Planet
For more than a month, the European Mars-Express orbiter for the study of Mars has been watching the long and jet-like cloud of the Red Planet. It seems to be fixed above Mount Arsia near the Martian equator and remains motionless from September 13. But ESA says that this is just a coincidence, since volcanic processes do not form clouds, and the volcano has remained inactive for more than 50 million years.
A strange cloud can be seen in the Mars Express image. ESA representatives identify the nearest surface formations
The ship Mars Express and its predecessors noticed similar clouds on at least the last three flights, which means that these structures were formed at about the same time in the Martian year. The ESA believes that this is not a coincidence. The cloud is filled with water ice and created by the air flow along the volcano. That is, we face the orographic cloud. It also suggests that it changes during the day, succumbing to the atmospheric fluctuations of Mars.
The second instrument on board the Mars Express got the image of a strange cloud in visual and infrared light on September 17, 2018
Cloud observers have noted that it grows during the morning, stretching along the equator. Perhaps it is affected by dust from a massive dust storm in the atmosphere that swept the planet early this year.
