1,000 Mars dust devils! European orbiters track Red Planet's tiny tornadoes

The Colour and Stereo Surface Imaging System camera on board the European Space Agency’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter captured these three dust devils tracking across the Martian surface on Nov. 8, 2021.

Tiny tornadoes of dust whirl across Mars's rusty plains far faster than scientists thought, a new study reveals.

Researchers tracked 1,039 dust devils on the Red Planet captured in two decades of images from European Space Agency (ESA) orbiters. The findings, published Wednesday (Oct. 8) in the journal Science Advances, show that these twisters can reach speeds up to 98 mph (158 kph), far exceeding previous measurements from Mars rovers and climate models.