QUESTION
I happen to see in many images that the horizon and/or sky sometimes appears
to have clouds in it.  Is this just poor resolution I am receiving on my end
or are there in fact "cloud-like formations" in the Martian sky?

ANSWER from Jim Murphy on July 19, 1997:
I'm very glad you are enjoying the images from Pathfinder...I am too!!!

I don't think that the folks who are studying the images looking for clouds
believe that they have yet seen any discrete, isolated clouds in any of
their analyses.  Some of the images, after they have been "processed" to
make small differences that show more contrast, do indicate some structure
in the brightness patterns which might be indicative of clouds, but their
effects, if in fact they are real, are very, very small at this time.

There will be, in the next week or two, a large set of images taken with
the specific purpose of identifying clouds.  I'm sure that when those
images are obtained and studied, the results of the analyses will be
made available on the Pathfinder Web site.

Have fun continuing to look at the images.  I hope you (and we!) can continue
to look at additional images for months to come!

Jim Murphy
Mars Pathfinder ASI/MET Science Team