Scientists from the United Arab Emirates Mars exploration project, known as the Emirates Mars Mission (EMM), reported that the Hope Mars Orbiter managed to capture a surprising new type of Martian aurora.
According to the Sputnik web portal, the researchers pointed out that the observations of this phenomenon will open “new areas to investigate the highly dynamic plasma environment” on the Red Planet.
They detail that the aurora was seen by one of the three scientific instruments aboard the Hope probe, called the Emirates Mars Ultraviolet Spectrometer at a wavelength of 130.4 nanometers (nm).
The aurora observations, some of the brightest and most extensive seen so far by Hope, were taken when a solar storm was occurring on Mars, causing a faster and more turbulent stream of electrons from the solar wind than usual.
Likewise, the specialists specify that the electrons that were “energized by electric fields in the magnetosphere of Mars”, were impacted once morest the atoms and molecules that make up “the upper Martian atmosphere”, in such a way that the aurora can be seen in the images taken by the Emirati space orbiter.
Scientists say the discreet, sinuous aurora consists of long, worm-like streaks of energized electron emission in the upper atmosphere, stretching many thousands of kilometers from the dayside to the nightside of Mars.
VTV/WIL/JMP
