NASA’s Curiosity rover on Mars captures mysterious glowing light

NASA Curiosity rover that has been exploring the Martian surface since 2012, has released a photo that shows a mysterious, unexplained white light on Mars. The black-and-white raw image that was transmitted back to Earth was taken by the Curiosity rover's right “Navcam" (which acts as sort of an eye) on June 16, 2019 or Sol 2438. The Navcam snapped the picture at 09.24 am IST.

The rover has two Navcams and 17 cameras and it has been sending photographs continuously since it landed on the Red Planet in August 2012, nearly seven years ago.

ALSO READ | SpaceX Falcon Heavy's first night launch carrying 152 dead people's remains tomorrow

The image shows, a disc-shaped orb which is white in colour can be seen floating above the surface of Mars. However, experts revealed that the Curiosity Rover had captured similar illuminations in the past.

"One possibility is that the light is the glint from a rock surface reflecting the sun. When these images were taken each day, the sun was in the same direction as the bright spot, west-northwest from the rover, and relatively low in the sky," said NASA spokesperson in a statement to Dailymail.

Alien researcher Scott C Waring said that the light is an alien UFO.  "The white UFO was seen in the most recent photo taken by the NASA rover. The UFO in the distance is watching the Mars rover...studying this primitive device. I wonder if this is the closest, they have come to the rover, or have they actually physically touched it in any way. I have seen many white glowing lights on Mars, but never one hovering and never one the shape of disk. This is new to me. I need to dig deeper into the photos to see if it’s been caught in any other photos. I would love to see this closer and at a different angle," wrote Waring on his website.

ALSO READ | NASA to launch two missions to advance understanding of Sun, its dynamic effects 

In December 2012, Curiosity's two-year mission was extended indefinitely, and on August 5, 2017, NASA celebrated the fifth anniversary of the Curiosity rover landing. The rover is still operational, and as of June 22, 2019, Curiosity has been on Mars for 2444 sols (2511 total days) since landing on August 6, 2012.