NASA and ESA's orbital spacecraft reveal the stunning winter landscape of Mars through captivating images.

Even though winter in Ukraine doesn't bring much snow, there is an opportunity to enjoy the snow covering the surface of Mars. This can be experienced through photographs taken by the Mars Express orbiter, operated by the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, managed by NASA, as reported by Space.

The images captured by the HRSC camera on the Mars Express orbiter and the HiRISE camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter showcase a snowy landscape in the Australe Scopuli region on Mars, near the planet's South Pole.

However, the snow visible in these images is vastly different from what we find on Earth. In fact, it is carbon dioxide ice, and there is a layer of ice about 8 meters thick at the South Pole of Mars year-round. It's worth noting that Mars is always cold, regardless of the season, and the images were taken during summer, yet the surface features give the impression of winter on the Red Planet.

The photographs reveal that there are also dark patches on the Martian surface. These are layers of dust that have accumulated on the ice surface. This dust is typically found deep beneath the ice but often rises to the surface.

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter also detected frost covering the edges of sand dunes on Mars. This frost can help prevent erosion by keeping the dust that makes up the dunes in place until it melts.

As sunlight heats the carbon dioxide ice at the South Pole of Mars during summer, the ice begins to sublimate or change directly from solid to gas. This process creates pockets of trapped gas within the ice.

Eventually, the pressure builds up, leading to a small gas eruption that is powerful enough to propel the dark dust lying beneath the ice into the atmosphere. As the dust falls back to the surface, the wind carries it, creating unusual patterns across the planet's surface.

Thus, what appears to be a beautiful winter landscape in these photographs is actually a dynamic summer scene where gas jets are ejecting dust onto the surface. All of this occurs at a temperature of about minus 125 degrees Celsius.