2023-12-15 18:55:00
This is how strongly the solar winds influence Mars. (Symbol image) NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory
The solar wind that blows around the planets briefly disappeared on Mars due to an event on the Sun.
The Martian atmosphere temporarily expanded by thousands of kilometers.
NASA’s MAVEN orbiter observed the rare event, which has not occurred since 1999.
This is a machine translation of an article from our US colleagues at Business Insider. It was automatically translated and checked by an editor.
Mars experienced a sudden break in the cosmic order about a year ago. It was almost as if the red planet had been briefly transported to another solar system.
Normally, the sun in our solar system constantly spits out a stream of charged particles and magnetic fields, the so-called solar wind.
An animation of the solar wind shows particles streaming from the Sun toward Earth. NASA
This wind washes over the planets, putting pressure on them that helps hold their atmospheres together. It also interacts with their atmospheres to create auroras — which often appear on Earth.
However, in December 2022, the solar wind suddenly disappeared around Mars, and the planet’s atmosphere subsequently expanded by thousands of kilometers.
Without its solar wind, Mars was truly in the void. NASA/JPL
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NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft, which is orbiting Mars, observed the whole thing. Scientists announced their findings about the event on Monday at the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco.
An eruption on the sun has swept away the solar wind
The scientists found that the sun ejected a burst of high-speed solar wind that swept away a region of regular solar wind, leaving a void.
“Every solar storm is different, but this one is special,” MAVEN mission leader Shannon Curry said at the press conference.
According to MAVEN data, there was virtually no solar wind on Mars. The density of solar particles had fallen by a factor of 100. As a result, Mars’ atmosphere expanded by thousands of kilometers.
This unusual type of phenomenon was last observed in 1999. At that time, a NASA satellite observed how the solar wind disappeared around Earth and caused our planet’s atmosphere to swell fivefold, NASA scientists report.
The mysterious event could provide clues for the search for extraterrestrial life
An artist’s illustration depicts an astronaut streaming from Mars. NASA/Lacey Young
NASA scientists chose to study this rare, extreme event for several reasons. On the one hand, “solar events are of great importance for human exploration of Mars,” explains Curry.
That’s because Earth’s atmosphere protects us from the sun’s mischief, but astronauts in space are exposed to the extreme radiation that can accompany solar flares.
NASA plans to one day send humans to Mars, where they will be exposed to the solar wind and radiation for extended periods. The journey would take a total of two to three years, reports Popular Science. For comparison: NASA astronauts typically only stay on the International Space Station for six months. The longest manned space flight to date lasted 437 days.
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The dwindling solar wind also offers a clue to how Mars became such a dry, harsh and lifeless place.
The planet was once rich in water, and scientists suspect that microbial life may have existed on Mars back then. But Mars’ atmosphere disappeared into space, eventually leaving the planet too cold and unprotected for liquid water.
Curry said strong solar winds could have eroded the Martian atmosphere. To find out whether this was the case, it is helpful to examine the other extreme, when the solar wind disappears.
There’s another extraterrestrial motive for understanding the disappearance of the solar wind: The event sheds light on what rocky planets around other, less windy stars might look like.
Mars’ magnetic profile has also changed
NASA’s MAVEN orbiter observed the disappearance of the solar wind on Mars in December 2022. NASA
The solar wind also interacts with the planet’s upper atmosphere, forming its magnetosphere. This is the region of space where Mars’ magnetic fields dominate.
Just like Earth, the magnetosphere around Mars acts like a bubble around which the solar wind must flow. But as the solar wind disappeared, the magnetosphere ballooned, engulfing the MAVEN spacecraft’s entire orbit.
As quickly as the solar wind disappeared on December 25, 2022, it was back again on December 27, 2022. The Martian atmosphere and magnetosphere shrank back to their normal dimensions.
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The more active the Sun becomes, the more rare events like this can occur
The solar wind creates the Northern Lights, which are likely to become more common when solar activity reaches its peak. Owen Humphreys/PA Images via Getty Images
The sun is nearing the peak of its 11-year cycle, meaning more sunspots are forming on its bubbling plasma surface and more flares, surges of solar wind and other extreme events are occurring.
On Earth, we know that solar flares and solar storms can produce beautiful auroras, wreak magnetic havoc, mess with compasses, knock satellites out of orbit, and even block radio signals and disrupt power grids.
Next year, as solar activity continues toward its peak, NASA’s MAVEN mission could have even more opportunities to study such solar outbursts from the perspective of Mars.
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