Opportunity's first dust devil. NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell University/Texas A&M

The Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity captured this dust devil on camera.  This is the first one for Opportunity in the six and a half years on the planet.  Spirit has seen dozens of them.  I thought sure Oppy had seen one but no, not according to the press release.

This particular dust devil was seen on July 15th while the rover was taking pictures with its panoramic camera to do a bit of drive planning.  The dustier conditions near Gusev Crater where Spirit has been working are likely more favorable to create the phenomenon.

Just a day before the dust devil was spotted, conditions near Opportunity were windy enough to blow some dust off the solar panels and increased the power output by 10 percent.  Opportunity took a series of pictures on Sol 2220 (in April) which were put together to give a 360 degree view of the area, looks pretty desolate – click here to view it.