Earth Viewed From Mars: Curiosity Rover Tweets Pictures of Planet 100 million miles Away

Nasa's Curiosity rover has taken photographs of Earth from the surface of Mars, revealing what our planet looks like 100 million miles away.

Posted from the official Twitter account for Curiosity, the images capture the minute appearance of our planet, which seems no more than a dot in space.

Curiosity tweeted: "Look back in wonder... My 1st picture of Earth from the surface of Mars."

It successfully landed on Aeolis Palus in Gale Crater in August 2012, less than 2.4 km from the centre of the rover's touchdown target.

The pictures were snapped using the "left eye camera" around 80 minutes after the Mars sunset, on the rover's 529th Martian Day. It was "processed to remove the effects of cosmic rays".

Nasa released a second image, which increased the size to make Earth and the Moon more visible.

A Nasa spokesperson said: "A human observer with normal vision, if standing on Mars, could easily see Earth and the moon as two distinct, bright evening stars."

Overall, Curiosity has discovered Ancient Mars has the right sort of chemistry to support life. It contained carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, phosphorus and sulphur, which are necessary for terrestrial life.

It also discovered high levels or radiation during it's trip, which could pose a risk to astronauts.

The rover has found a diversity in the rock types on Mars, such as gravel mudstone and potentially volcanic rock, which is evidence to the planet's intriguing geological history.