“We are seeing separate auroral effects on a large scale and in ways we could never have imagined,” Hessa Al Matroushi, EMM’s science lead, said in an emailed statement.
The previously studied types of Martian auroras are caused by a variety of factors. Discrete auroras, for example, appear to occur above magnetic minerals in the planet’s crust. The proton auroras are caused by interactions between the solar wind, which is a constant stream of charged particles flowing from our sun, and hydrogen in Mars’ thin atmosphere.
The newly identified meandering discrete aurora is likely more similar in origin to the diffuse aurora, caused by intense solar storms.
Scientists hope that a better understanding of the appearance of discrete meandering auroras and other auroral features can hone their understanding of the solar wind and the way Mars’ magnetism affects the planet.
“Since the first observations of those discrete auroras, we have continued to see remarkable new auroral patterns that open new insights into the interactions of charged particles in the Martian atmosphere,” said Al Matroushi.
“There’s a ton of new information here for the EMM science team [Emirates Mars Mission] to work together.”
Scientists say a lot of information is hidden in archival data from other missions, notably that collected by the European Space Agency’s long-running Mars Express (ESA) and NASA’s MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) spacecraft which observes the Red Planet’s atmosphere.
“The meandering discrete aurora is a surprising discovery that in many ways leaves us scratching our heads and returning to the drawing board,” Rob Lillis, a planetary scientist at the University of California, Berkeley who worked on the Emirates Mars ultraviolet spectrometer instrument, said in a statement. the same statement.
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