Mars' 2nd Type of Aurora Described As ‘Patchy' and ‘Chaotic’ Protecting Planet From Solar Wind

Researchers have discovered that Mars has another type of proton, aurora, its second. This is called "patchy proton aurora."

As indicated in an IFL Science report, the Red Planet does not have a magnetic field like Earth, so its aurorae are quite distinctive.

Researchers have discovered that Mars has a second type of proton aurora.https://t.co/kjKbclgtJ7
— IFLScience (@IFLScience) September 1, 2022

They are known as proton aurorae, and the protons bring them in the solar wind that steals electrons in the planet's bowshock region and penetrates more deeply, releasing ultraviolet light as they slow down.

While the smooth version appears equally distributed throughout the hemisphere, the patchy aurora is "more chaotic" and exhibits more variability with localized aurora and versions that spread through the planet's side that faces the Sun.

ALSO READ: Microbes on Earth Could Temporarily Live on Martian Surface, New Research Show

(Photo: Wikimedia Commons/NASA)
False-color image of Auroral ultraviolet lights from particles excited by collisions with protons, so-called Proton Aurora, from NASA's IMAGE satellite, overlaid on a cloudless satellite image composite of Earth in visible light.

Space Weather Surrounding Mars Needs to be Chaotic

The findings of the study are published in the Geographical Research Letters journal. Observations from the Emirates Mars Mission or EMM of the United Arab Emirates were key to understanding how such events occur.

Typically, it is difficult for the solar wind to reach the upper atmosphere of Mars; thus, for these occurrences to occur, there's a need for the space weather surrounding the Red Planet to be chaotic.

According to Mike Chaffin, the study's lead author from the University of Colorado Boulder, the observation of EMM "suggested that the aurora" was not quite widespread and disorganized that the plasma environment surrounding Mars must have been very disturbed, to the point that the solar wind was affecting the upper atmosphere directly wherever auroral emission is observed.

He added that by combining EMM auroral observations with MAVEN measurements of the aural plasma environment, they could verify the hypothesis and determine that what they were seeing was significantly a map of where the solar wind was raining down onto Planet Mars.

Proton Aurorae

ScienceAlert describes proton aurorae as "the most common aurorae on Mars. They were first described in 2018, as seen in MAVEN data.

Aurorae form fairly akin to how they form on Earth. Nonetheless, since Mars is quite a different "beast," minus an internally-driven magnetosphere like the Earth's, the result is distinctive to the Red Planet.

The nearest Mars does have to a global magnetic field is said to be a delicate one induced by the buzz of charged particles that decelerate as they smash into the atmosphere.

As weak as it is, it is typically good enough to deflect a lot of high-speed protons and neutrons that rain down from the Sun.

Simultaneous Space Observations

The study demonstrates how international collaboration between space agencies can improve the findings of every individual mission.

The global observations of the upper atmosphere of EMM offer a distinctive perspective on a region crucial to MAVEN science, explained Shannon Curry, MAVEN Principal Investigator from UC Berkeley's Space Sciences Laboratory.

Such simultaneous observations probe the fundamental physics of atmospheric dynamics and evolution and highlight the benefits of international scientific collaboration.

Lastly, EMM Science Lead Hessa Al Matroushi said access to MAVEN data has been vital for placing such new EMM observations into a more comprehensive context.

Together, she added, they're pushing the boundaries of their current knowledge, not only of Mars but of "planetary interactions with the solar wind."

Related information about the discovery of Mars aurora is shown on Physics Insight's YouTube video below: