NASA's Curiosity Rover has captured photographs of asteroids from the surface of Mars - the first time a human probe has ever taken such photos.
The asteroids, named Ceres and Vesta, were captured in an image taken by Curiosity's high resolution Mastcam camera on Sunday, April 20, according to Universe Today.
The image was taken as a 12-second Mastcam exposure, causing the asteroids to appear as streaks.
The NASA mission Dawn, which explored Vesta in 2011 and 2012, is currently heading towards Ceres for a new mission, Discovery News reported. The image also captured Deimos, Mars' smallest moon.
"This image was part of an experiment checking the opacity of the atmosphere at night in Curiosity's location on Mars, where water-ice clouds and hazes develop during this season," said Mark Lemmon, camera team member of Texas A&M University, College Station. "The two Martian moons were the main targets that night, but we chose a time when one of the moons was near Ceres and Vesta in the sky."
Ceres and Vesta are the two most massive objects in the Main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, Universe Today reported. Ceres is the largest asteroid at almost 590 miles (950 kilometers) in diameter, while Vesta is the third-largest object in the belt, measuring 350 miles (563 kilometers) wide.
Three star trails can also be seen in the image. Despite its location from a different vantage point, Phobos - Mars' largest moon - Jupiter and Saturn were seen the same evening and were all combined in a composite image.
"The background is detector noise, limiting what we can see to magnitude 6 or 7, much like normal human eyesight," NASA officials stated. "The two asteroids and three stars would be visible to someone of normal eyesight standing on Mars. Specks are effects of cosmic rays striking the camera's light detector."
Currently, Curiosity is involved in drilling operations in Gale Crater at "The Kimberly", Discovery News reported. Researchers will sample material from the location to better understand Mars' past potential to host life.
