NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft has detected the last time two natural phenomena in the atmosphere of Mars, which is a cloud of dust at high altitude and auroras near the surface. This reports the US space agency in a press release.
The dust cloud hovers between 150 and 300 kilometers above the surface. Scientists did not expect here to find dust. Although the origin and composition of the dust at the moment are not yet known, the dust cloud poses no threat to spacecraft that orbit Mars. “If this cloud of dust generated in the atmosphere, then we do not know everything about the Martian atmosphere,” said scientist Laila Andersson of the University of Colorado.
MAVEN arrived on September 21, 2014 at Mars. Since his arrival, the dust can be seen already. It is still unknown whether the cloud is a temporary phenomenon or whether it exists in a while, such as Jupiter’s Great Red Spot.
Aurora
addition MAVEN observed just before Christmas, aurorae on Mars. Although there are already auroras have been observed on Mars, it now appears that the aurora is visible low in the atmosphere. The electrical particles from the sun – which are 100 times more energetic than when you get an electric shock from an electrical outlet – have direct access to the Martian atmosphere, making auroras visible at lower latitudes than on Earth. This is because Mars has no magnetic field, like Earth. This field holds the earth much radiation from the sun against, but at the poles weaker, allowing charged particles here or penetrate and cause auroras
Ultraviolet auroras everywhere on Mars.
The MAVEN spacecraft is equipped with a variety of instruments to study the atmosphere of the red planet. The first few months, the spacecraft already been carried out, including the amount of ozone in the atmosphere of Mars and understand the breakdown of water and carbon dioxide.
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