I was watching a programme on one of the HD documentary channels this afternoon – it was one where “scientists” were pontificating about the extreme weather on other planets in our solar system. What with 300mph winds forecast on Jupiter, and 1,500mph gales on Neptune (honestly), you wonder why they are usually so wrong about whether it will be wet or sunny tomorrow back down here.
But the one piece of factual information – it is based on actual video, not computer-generated guesses – was from Mars. I remember seeing one of these when it was first released, but they have more footage now. Take a look (courtesy of NASA/JPL):
They were taken by the Mars Rover, and show “dust devils” whipping across the Martian landscape. I find them fascinating.