Colorful Water Clouds Over Mars

Explanation: One place where water can be found on Mars is in clouds . In the above picture colorful water clouds are visible just after sunrise in and around a maze of canyons known as Noctis Labyrinthus (the labyrinth of the night). Scientists don't yet know, however, why these clouds formed , and why some stick to the canyons . One exciting possibility is that water sometimes condenses in shaded regions of the canyon s, only to evaporate into clouds when exposed to the morning Sun . Water in any form on the Martian surface might be important to sustaining life and possible future human exploration . Viking Orbiter 1 , which visited Mars in 1976, took the above picture . The region shown is about 100 kilometers across.