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Spend long enough exploring the red planet, and you may be treated to a glorious blue sunset.

That exactly what the Curiosity rover saw recently, after it captured stunning views of the sun disappearing from Mars' horizon.

The images were taken on 15th of April, on sol 956, after a three-year wait by the team working on the Rover's MastCam.

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Damia Bouic from the Planetary Society was able to recreate the colours of a sunset on Mars to create these stunning views. The images were taken on 15th of April, on sol 956, after a three-year wait by the team working on the Rover's MastCam

They were sent by the rover in black and white, but Damia Bouic from the Planetary Society was able to recreate the colours to create these stunning views.

Nasa has also recently released a video on the social media site Vine showing the sun dipping towards the Martian horizon, captured by its exploratory rover Opportunity.

The time-lapse video of the eerie sunset was created by piecing together images taken by Opportunity.

The images show a darker, dustier sky than here on Earth that perhaps loses some of the romance that often accompanies sunset on our own planet.

Sunset on the red planet: Sun going down on Mars

Although much of the surface of Mars is a deep red colour, it is this thick dust that also turns the sunset blue

Rather than turning the sky a deep orange, as happens on Earth, the setting sun gives the sky a deep blue

And rather than turning the sky a deep orange, as happens on Earth, the setting sun gives the sky a deep blue tinge.

Although much of the surface of Mars is a deep red colour, it is this thick dust that also turns the sunset blue.

However, Dr John Bridges, a planetary scientist at the University of Leicester who studies Mars, warned that the cameras on the Opportunity rover may not be conveying the true image.

He said: 'We do have to be a little careful with the colour produced by the cameras on this rover as they are a false colour image.

'What is very striking though is how much smaller the sun appears compared to here on Earth.

'Taking images like this can teach us a great deal about the atmosphere on Mars. 

'Most of the dust is in the troposphere, which is about 40km up on Mars.

'There is a lot of effort to find out how high up dust clouds can get up on Mars - particularly after some cloud-like plumes were spotted that appear to be much higher in the atmosphere than we thought dust can go.'

Scientists say sunset on Mars would have a blue light, however, as the red dust in the atmosphere filters out much of the red light from the sun.

As the sun dips lower in the sky, its light has to travel through the lower layers of the atmosphere where the dust is thicker.

On Earth our own atmosphere scatters blue light creating the red and orange shades that light up the sky at sun down.

It is not the first time Nasa has shown the world what a sunset on Mars would look like and it released a longer video in 2010.

Opportunity has seen around 3940 sunsets since it arrived on Mars.

As the sun dips lower in the sky, its light has to travel through the lower layers of the atmosphere where the dust is thicker

From the surface of Mars the sun appears about five eighths of the size it is when seen from the Earth

From the surface of the red planet the sun appears about five eighths of the size it is when seen from the Earth.

The red planet receives just 40 per cent of the light we experience on Earth, meaning the sky appears much darker as the sun begins to fall towards the horizon. 

However, twilight can continue for up to two hours after the sun has set - far longer than on Earth - as sunlight is scattered around to the night side of the planet by the abundance of dust high in the atmosphere.

The average length of a day on Mars is about 24 hours and 37 minutes.

Scientists running the Mars rovers take occassional images of the Martian sunset to help them determine how high into the atmosphere the Martian dust billows.

They low angle of the light also makes it easier for them to see ice clouds that can form in the sky.

At 141,610,000 miles from the sun, the average temperature on the surface of Mars is around -66°C (-87°F).

Twilight can continue for up to two hours after the sun has set - far longer than on Earth. The average length of a day on Mars is about 24 hours and 37 minutes