Fact Check: What Mars Rovers Really See

Would the night sky on Mars be filled with twinkling stars like we’re used to seeing on Earth? That depends on who’s looking. If there were a space observatory on Mars, you could expect it to observe millions of stars, but those aren’t the kinds of images that the cameras on NASA’s rovers are designed to capture. What’s the real story of the viral “Mars night sky” image? Abigail Fraeman, deputy project scientist for NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover, separates fact from fiction when it comes to stargazing through a rover’s eyes.