The various aurora on earth are one of the most spectacular sights we can find on the planet. But the earth is not the only celestial body to experience these phenomena. These phenomena have been seen on some satellites around Mercury and Jupiter, and even on a comet. But there is an unlikely planet that you may not expect to see above. It is Mars.
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For years, scientists have been trying to figure out how the Mars Aurora occurs. After all, the red planet has no global magnetic field, which plays a key role in the formation of the aurora on our earth. But now scientists may have figured out how they formed.
If you are not familiar with the working principle of aurora on earth, they are basically caused by the interaction between our planet's magnetic field and solar wind. When the solar wind collides with the earth's magnetic field, the result is the spectacular Aurora captured by photographers many times. But on Mars, most of this critical magnetic field has disappeared.
Mars once had a global magnetic field. However, scientists believe that the magnetic field has declined since the early days of life on the planet. Today, however, small areas of the sun's magnetic field emerge from certain areas of the planet's crust. This is particularly possible in the southern hemisphere of the planet. It is these pockets that help form the Mars aurora.
"We have the first detailed study to see how solar wind conditions affect the aurora on Mars," Zachary girazian, the study's author, shared in a statement.
In addition, he added: "our main finding is that in the region of strong crustal field, the incidence of Aurora mainly depends on the direction of solar wind magnetic field, while outside the region of strong crustal field, the incidence mainly depends on the dynamic pressure of solar wind."
The group published research on these phenomena in the Journal of geophysical research: space physics. During the study, they observed more than 200 discrete cases of Mars aurora.
They did this using the Mars atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (Maven) spacecraft. Maven was launched in 2013 and has been used on multiple missions since its arrival on the red planet.
The researchers found that the Mars Aurora was found to occur most frequently in the planet's southern hemisphere. In addition, they believe that the local interaction between the solar wind and these small areas has led to the light show. This is the reason for these ultraviolet light shows.
Through observation, researchers can quite clearly describe the cause of the aurora. Still, it's interesting to think that something so heavily dependent on our planet's global magnetic field can survive in the small areas found on Mars.