Benjamin Dery

KING 5 and NWCN meteorologist

We might be finding a new nickname for the red planet. Recently, NASA's Curiosity Rover took the first colored image of a sunset on Mars.

You would think that the red planet would have a red sunset, but apparently that's not the case. The image shows a sunset with a bluish hue. Scientists say dust in Mars' atmosphere is to blame. Very fine particles allow blue light to push through the atmosphere more effectively than the longer wavelength colors like yellow and red.

When we see a sunset or sunrise on Earth, sunlight has to travel through more of the atmosphere. This effectively scatters the blue light, leaving only the colors yellow, orange, and red.

In other Martian news, scientists have been able to say that there are also auroras on Mars. What's more is they say the aurora are even more wide ranging than anticipated.

What's most interesting is, on Earth, our magnetic field extends from the poles. When the sun's solar energy excites the molecules in the upper atmosphere, we see the Northern Lights. Or, in the southern hemisphere, the southern lights.

On Mars, it's a little different. Mars has a decaying magnetic field, and the shape is less organized. Mars has pockets of magnetic energy in the shape of umbrellas that pop up here and there. That means, when a solar storm approaches, you could hypothetically see the aurora from anywhere on the planet. It also means a compass wouldn't work very well!

So, Mars could have blue sunsets and green auroras. What do you think of the red planet now?