Wednesday, October 04, 2017

Major Space Weather Event on Mars


Source - Space Weather News for Oct. 4, 2017: http://spaceweather.com

MAJOR SPACE WEATHER EVENT ON MARS: Last month, a human astronaut standing on the surface of Mars could have seen something amazing. The night sky of the Red Planet turned green in a global display of Northern Lights. Unfortunately, the same astronaut would have been irradiated by high energy particles from the sun. For three days in mid-September a solar storm enveloped Mars, crossing thresholds of ground-level radiation and auroras that orbiters and rovers had never seen before. Such global events on Mars may be more common than previously thought--a topic explored on today's edition of  Spaceweather.com.

















Above: This artist's concept shows a solar coronal mass ejection (CME) bearing down on NASA's MAVEN spacecraft in orbit around Mars

No comments: