RED DREAD

Huge 2,000ft dust whirlwind raging across Mars snapped in stunning Nasa photo

A RARE image of a giant dust devil whirlwind swirling over Mars has been captured by a Nasa spacecraft.

Whirlwinds like this usually fade very quickly so the photo provides a rare insight into how they affect the Martian landscape.

Nasa's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) captured the image late last year.

The MRO HiRise camera team at the University of Arizona recently shared the fascinating snap for the world to see.

Team member Sharon Wilson said: "There are several HiRise images of tracks left behind by dust devils, but it is rare to catch one in motion."

The core of the dust devil is thought to have been 164 feet wide and around 2,132 feet tall.

That would mean the mega whirlwind was just over twice as tall as the Eiffel Tower.

The team were able to determine the size of the whirlwind by looking at the large shadow that it cast.

Studying dust devils like this is important because humans will have to contend with them if they colonise Mars.

The dust devil in question may seem huge but it's far from the biggest.

HiRise captured another martian whirlwind in action back in 2012 but it was a mind-blowing 12 miles high.

That's almost the equivalent of 60 Eiffel Towers stacked on top of one another.

Here's what you need to know about the red planet...

Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun
It is named after the Roman god of war
The landmass of Mars is very similar to Earth but due to the difference in gravity you could jump three times higher there than you can here
Mars is mountainous and hosts the tallest mountain known in the Solar System called Olympus Mons, which is three times higher than Everest
Mars is considered to be the second most habitable planet after Earth
It takes the planet 687 Earth days to orbit the Sun
So far, there has been 39 missions to Mars but only 16 of these have been successful

Nasa scientists study Mars' wind patterns for the first time

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