Is it true that these videos depict the starry sky above Mars?

In 2025, the world was treated to spectacular images of the starry sky, allegedly taken by the Curiosity rover. We have checked the correctness of this description.

In a video lasting about a minute, the camera lens first captures the surface of the planet and the Curiosity rover itself, and then the sky full of stars comes to the fore - they fill almost the entire exotic frame.

Publications with this video became popular in the summer of 2025 on entertainment sites (“Peekaboo") and on social networks (X, Telegram).

In the spring, another similar video appeared on the Internet - publications with it were distributed by such Telegram channels as “Ax+"(2.8 million views at the time of writing this analysis), "Dvach» (489,000) and VPS (408,000).

Curiosity is a third-generation rover that landed on Mars in 2012 and operates as part of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission. The device is 3 m long and weighs 899 kg equipped 17 cameras: some of them are used for navigation and collision avoidance, and some are used for scientific purposes. Curiosity will be joined by its almost twin in 2021 Perseverance. Many of the surreal images taken by the rovers' cameras are later published by NASA. Most of them are taken during the day, and they often do not show a sufficiently clear sky.

And there are reasons for this. Sparse on Mars atmosphere, consisting mainly of carbon dioxide, nitrogen and argon. To us this sky appears foggy and red due to the large amount of dust in the air. The winds on Mars are so strong that the resulting dust storms cover most of the planet. After such storms, the dust sometimes settles for several months. Only occasionally do rovers manage to capture clear skies.

Under good conditions, you can even see the stars at night.

"Verified" was not found in official accounts NASA has neither the first nor the second viral video. Apparently, the original source of both is the NASA Curiosity TikTok account (@nasa.curiosity), from which all links redirect users to another account - @blackhole229. In the description of the latter saidthat he is not associated with any agency - NASA does not have its own TikTok account at all. One from the videos appeared in this account on May 10 (2.9 million views), second — August 19 (26.5 million). Under the second video it is written that it is visualized from real photographs of the NASA rover and a current panorama of the Milky Way galaxy. There are a huge number of similar videos posted on this account with 4.6 million subscribers.

Back in April 2025, in connection with the distribution of such photos and videos, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory released an educational video clip. It was prepared jointly with the deputy scientific director of the Curiosity project Abigail Freiman. Here's what it said: “Have you ever wondered what the night sky looks like on Mars? You may have seen digital images like this one on social media. While it's certainly magical, it's not what NASA's Mars rovers captured on the Red Planet. These are two separate pictures that have been combined. In the foreground of this altered image you see Curiosity. In the background is a stunning starry sky.

Here's the original image from Curiosity.

You can see that it was daytime when the rover took this selfie. And here is the original starry sky, which was taken from a space observatory on Earth.

If there was a space observatory on Mars, we could get an image like this. But Curiosity's cameras do something different. They are optimized to showcase Mars' unique landscapes and interesting features. If you were lying on Mars on a clear night, the sky would likely remind you of our skies and Earth, especially in the darkest places, such as remote deserts or mountaintops. While we cannot travel to Mars ourselves, we will continue to observe the planet and its skies through the eyes of our robotic rovers, knowing that every image they send tells us a little more about the Red Planet.”

Thus, numerous videos of the Martian sky that have captured TikTok and other social networks are not complete recordings, but the result of editing, to which NASA has nothing to do with, except for the fact of using its footage. For a panorama of the starry sky, frames taken by telescopes from Earth are taken - often composite photos from many pictures. Similar videos and panoramas received spreading long ago until 2025.

Cover photo: social networks

Mostly not true

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