Sunset Over Gusev Crater
			
		
		
		
			What would it be like to see a sunset on Mars?  
To help find out, the 
robotic rover Spirit was deployed last month 
to park and serenely watch the Sun dip below the distant lip of 
Gusev crater.  
It was a tough job, but some robot had to do it.  
Now on Earth a red sunset is caused by two effects -- by blue light being 
preferentially scattered out of sunlight by 
oxygen and 
nitrogen molecules in the atmosphere, 
and by scattering off a small amount of impurities like 
volcanic dust.  
(The magnitude of the first effect was computed in one of Albert 
Einstein's most cited 
papers.)
Although Mars lacks oxygen and nitrogen, it is covered in 
red dust frequently 
hoisted into the atmosphere by 
fast but 
thin winds.  
Analyses of images like the 
above photograph show that at least some 
Martian days are capped by a 
sunset significantly 
longer and redder than typical on Earth.  
For up to two hours after twilight, sunlight continued to reflect off 
Martian dust high in the atmosphere, casting a diffuse glow.  
The result helps atmospheric scientists understand not only the 
atmosphere of Mars, but atmospheres across the 
Solar System, 
including our 
home Earth.