Curiosity Rover Snaps First Photos of Mars at Night

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has captured its first nighttime view of the Red Planet using a camera and ultraviolet light on its robotic arm.

Curiosity snapped the Mars night photos in visible and ultraviolet light on Jan. 22 to take an up-close look at a rock called "Sayunei," which the rover had scuffed with a wheel to scratch off surface dust, NASA announced Thursday. One goal was to seek out any fluorescent minerals, they added.

The rover took the photos with the help of small light-emitting diodes (LEDs) that serve as lights for the Mars Hand Lens Imager -- or MAHLI -- a microscope-like camera at the end of Curiosity's robot arm. The camera has an adjustable focus and several LED l…
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