The environment in which the Mars Rover Perseverance is currently roaming is usually quite static. But every now and then the vehicle also detects some movement. At the end of August, for example, when he saw a large dust cloud dancing in front of him!

On the 899th Martian day (or Sol) of its mission, the Mars rover Perseverance spotted a large dust devil, or dust devil, about four kilometers away. Perseverance took at least 21 images of it at 4-second intervals. NASA has now stitched these images together to create a time lapse of the dust devil. You can see the result – played about 20 times faster – below!

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Based on the images, researchers estimate that the dust devil was dancing about four kilometers from Perseverance. The dust devil had moved from east to west at a speed of about 19 kilometers per hour. The width of the dust devil is estimated at about 60 metres.

Unfortunately, we don’t see the dust devil in all its glory in the images captured by Perseverance. So we don’t know exactly how high it is. But given its shadow, scientists are willing to give a conservative estimate of the dust devil’s height. “Most dust devils are columnar plumes,” says researcher Mark Lemon. “Assuming this dust devil was built this way, its shadow suggests it would have been about 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) long.”

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Dust devils appear on Mars mainly in spring and summer. And since it’s now summer in the Northern Hemisphere – where Perseverance is currently located – the dust devil doesn’t come as a complete surprise. However, at the same time, it’s not clear that the Mars rover would spot a dust devil drifting past. Because although researchers know that dust devils are often born in spring and summer, they cannot predict exactly when and where dust devils will form. Mars rovers must be lucky enough to look in the right place at the right time. To increase the chances of spotting the dust devil, scientists allowed Perseverance — and its colleague, Curiosity — to regularly peek in all directions.

It’s easy to explain why scientists have a higher than average interest in dust devils. Because although dust jets also exist on Earth, the Martian versions are much more impressive. It can be up to eight kilometers high and hundreds of meters wide. These large dust devils apparently release large amounts of dust (high) into the atmosphere and also leave a mark on the Martian weather and climate. By studying dust devils, researchers hope to better understand the Martian atmosphere as well as Martian weather and climate. In addition, more insight into the interaction between Martian winds and Martian dust is also important to better understand the origin and evolution of dust storms. Huge dust storms regularly occur on Mars, sometimes obscuring the entire surface of Mars from view. In the past, these dust storms have proven to be a serious threat to our Mars rover there, and were even fatal to the Mars rover Opportunity a few years ago. To prevent similar problems in the future, researchers hope to better understand how these dust storms arise. The next step is to predict when they will appear. If scientists knew this, they could take precautions to prevent problems with future landers or rovers on Mars, but especially during future manned missions to Mars.