NASA's incredible 'rainbow' on Mars photo isn't rainbow after all

Two days an image from NASA went somewhat viral as thousands of people were interested in how Mars produced a "rainbow" with no water in its atmosphere.

The above image shows what seems to be to the normal eye a perfect rainbow hovering in the martian sky. This was quite puzzling to some people, as there shouldn't be any rainbows on Mars considering the lack of raindrops in the sky and how thin the atmosphere is. So, what are we looking at if it isn't a martian rainbow?

The answer is a bit of a mood-killer if you get excited about space things. Since there were so many people questioning the image that NASA released, NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab gave an accurate answer to Futurism. JPL media relations specialist Andrew Good confirmed, "What you're seeing there is a lens flare. We have sunshades on the front Hazcams, which were considered mission critical (since we need them for driving forward, and we're usually driving forward)."

However, Good goes on to explain, "Sunshades weren't considered essential on the back ones, so you can still see scattered light artifacts in their images."

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