NASA's Perseverance rover has captured images of two swirling columns of air and dust on Mars – known as 'dust devils' – one consuming the other.
The images have been turned into a short video showing the Mars dust devil scuffle by Perseverance's science team, who are looking to better understand what's going on in the Red Planet's atmosphere.
Dust devils on Mars
Dust devils are a common feature on Mars.
They are formed by rising, spinning columns of warm air, which happens when air close to the Martian surface is heated by the warmer ground.
This air then rises through the cooler air above. As it rises, more air travels along the Martian ground to take the place of the rising air, and it begins to twist.
That incoming air rises into the column and picks up speed via angular momentum (the same force that makes you spin faster when you tuck your arms in).
This spinning, twisting air sucks in Martian dust and a Mars dust devil is created.
Perseverance's dust devil movie
The rover's Mars dust devil movie was produced using images captured on 25 January 2025, about 0.6 miles (1km) away from the dust devils.
The larger Mars dust devil is about 65 metres wide, while the smaller one is about 5 metres wide.
Perseverance has just finished its study of Jezero Crater on Mars, and it captured these images on Jezero's western rim at 'Witch Hazel Hill'.
"Convective vortices — aka dust devils — can be rather fiendish," says Mark Lemmon, Perseverance scientist at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado.
"These mini-twisters wander the surface of Mars, picking up dust as they go and lowering the visibility in their immediate area. If two dust devils happen upon each other, they can either obliterate one another or merge, with the stronger one consuming the weaker."
"Dust devils play a significant role in Martian weather patterns," says Katie Stack Morgan, project scientist for the Perseverance rover at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.
"Dust devil study is important because these phenomena indicate atmospheric conditions, such as prevailing wind directions and speed, and are responsible for about half the dust in the Martian atmosphere."
Recording Mars dust devils
NASA says the first images of dust devils came from the Viking spacecraft in the 1970s, then later by NASA's Pathfinder mission.
The Spirit, Opportunity and Curiosity rovers have also captured images of Mars dust devils.
Since scientist can't really predict when Mars dust devils will appear, capturing images of them can be a difficult job.
Perseverance rover scans in all directions for them and is constantly on the lookout, since they provide scientists with important information about how Martian wind behaves.
"If you feel bad for the little devil in our latest video, it may give you some solace to know the larger perpetrator most likely met its own end a few minutes later," says Lemmon.
"Dust devils on Mars only last about 10 minutes."
