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NASA has discovered a new type of aurora that illuminates the sky of Mars – but, as they arise on the planet's side, they would be hard to see.
The Maven spacecraft spotted mysterious lightning in the hydrogen gas from the upper atmosphere of Mars, revealing the interaction of particles bombarding the region.
Unlike the auroras of the Earth, which are caused by electrons, the luminous events on Mars are the result of an influx of protons. Scientists have now understood how these unusual phenomena occur, suggesting that everything comes down to "stolen" electrons.
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The Maven Probe spotted mysterious events of lightening in the hydrogen gas The upper atmosphere of Mars, revealing the interaction of the particles that bombard the region. Unlike the auroras of the Earth, which are caused by electrons, the light events on Mars are the result of an influx of protons. The phenomenon is illustrated in the animation above
Scientists were first confounded by the strange Martian aurora, which showed that protons could travel beyond the "magnetic shock" of Mars and emit light. 19659002] The team studies the phenomenon using the UltraViolet Maven Imaging Spectrograph, revealing instances where ultraviolet light would lighten for hours
This occurred when the Solar wind energy analyzer from the machine was recording an increase in solar wind protons. NASA, the protons are able to behave this way by "flying" electrons in their path.
"The answer was rogue," said Justin Deighan, of the University of Colorado's Atmospheric and Space Physics Laboratory at Boulder.
"As they approach Mars, the protons that arrive with the solar wind turn into neutral atoms by stealing electrons from the outer edge of the huge clouds of hydrogen.
" Arc shock can only deflect the charged particles, so these neutral atoms keep going straight. "
These unusual proton auroras occur much more frequently on Mars than on Earth, according to experts. largely due to the strong Earth's magnetic field.
Scientists were at first bewildered by the strange Martian aurora, which showed that protons could travel beyond Mars's "magnetic shock" and emit light. – Something that Typically Requires Electrons
WHAT ARE AURORAS AND WHAT IS TRIGGERING PERFECT NATURAL DISPLAYS?
Northern Lights and Southern Lights are shows of the world. natural light triggered in our atmosphere that are also known as Auroras. There are two types of Aurora – Aurora Borealis, which means "North Dawn", and Aurora Australis, "South Dawn"
Screens light up when there are electrically charged particles from the sun penetrate the Earth. tmosphere.
There are two types of Aurora – Aurora Borealis (archive photo), which means " dawn of the north "and Aurora Australis," dawn of the south ". . & # 39; Screens light up when electrically charged particles of the sun enter the Earth's atmosphere
Generally, particles, sometimes called solar storms, are deflected by the Earth's magnetic field
. with gas particles, including hydrogen and helium.
These collisions emit light. Auroral posters appear in many colors although pale green and pink are common.
When they occur on rare occasions, this is seen in small areas near the poles. In contrast, proton auroras can occur anywhere, says NASA
Experts say that proton aurora could also be common on the moon of Venus and Saturn, Titan, both of which lack magnetic fields "The Martian proton aurora is more than a light show," says Jasper Halekas of the University of Iowa
"They reveal that the solar wind It's not completely deviated around Mars, showing how the protons of the wind can sneak past the shock of the arc and affect the atmosphere, by depositing energy. and even increasing the hydrogen content there. "
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