Marching dust devils on Mars: Check out this picture by HiRISE camera

This throwback picture from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE), a camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), shows a cluster of 8 dust devils on the Red Planet.

According to the University of Arizona, dust devils on Mars form the same way as they do on Earth. The ground heats up during the daytime, warming the air immediately above the surface. This hot layer of air rises and the cooler air above falls, creating vertical convection cells. A horizontal gust of wind will cause the convection cells to rotate, resulting in a dust devil.

HiRISE captured these dust devils on an early fall (2015) afternoon in Ganges Chasma (Valles Marineris). The dust devils are together on a dark sandy surface that tilts slightly to the north, towards the Sun.

"This image might answer some interesting questions about the behavior of dust devils. Dust devils are theoretically expected to migrate uphill on a sloping surface, or migrate downwind when there is a breeze. Where they are found close together in pairs, they are expected to rotate in opposite directions. HiRISE color observations can be used to determine the direction of rotation and - for fast moving dust devils - the direction of their travel. This is because the different color observations (infrared, red, and blue) are taken at slightly different times," reads the image description on the University of Arizona website.

HiPOD: Marching Dust DevilsOn an early fall afternoon in Ganges Chasma, we managed to capture a cluster of 8 dust devils. They’re together on a dark sandy surface that tilts slightly to the north, towards the Sun. https://t.co/IBZjYWr8lKNASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona#Mars pic.twitter.com/4B9tzJDh8v

— HiRISE: Beautiful Mars (NASA) (@HiRISE) September 17, 2022

Launched in 2005, HiRISE is the most powerful camera ever sent to another planet. It is one of six instruments onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The camera operates in visible wavelengths, the same as human eyes, but with a telescopic lens that produces images at resolutions never before seen in planetary exploration missions.