NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

This series of images show the movement of several dust devils near NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander. These images were taken by the lander's Surface Stereo Imager (SSI) on the 137th Martian day, or sol, of the mission (Oct. 13, 2008).

These images were taken about 50 seconds apart, showing the formation and movement of dust devils for nearly an hour. Phoenix scientists are still figuring out the exact distances these dust devils occurred from the lander, but they estimate them to be about 1 to 2 kilometers (.6 or 1.2 miles) away.

The Phoenix Mission is led by the University of Arizona, Tucson, on behalf of NASA. Project management of the mission is by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. Spacecraft development is by Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/Texas A&M University

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