Rare Solar Wind Gap May Have Led to Expansion of Mars' Atmosphere in Incredibly Baffling Event Observed by NASA MAVEN Orbiter

NASA's MAVEN orbiter was able to observe the atmosphere and magnetic shield of MArs ballooning outwards on December 26, 2022. It has now been discovered that a rare solar wind gap could have triggered the baffling expansion.

Sudden Expansion of Mars' Surface

In this baffling event, the atmosphere of the Red Planet was observed to blow up to roughly triple its usual size. This came without a warning, puzzling scientists.

This was witnessed on December 26, 2022 by the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) Orbiter of NASA. The Orbiter has been circling the upper atmosphere of the planet ever since 2014. The Orbiter was able to see the magnetosphere of the Red Planet swell up to thousands of miles. Because of this, the atmosphere of Mars temporarily expanded and filled free space.

Rare Solar Wind Gap Could Be the Reason

Now, scientists were able to discover that a rare gap or void in the charged particles that stream from the Sun, called solar wind, could be the reason behind this odd phenomenon.

After looking into the data of the spacecraft, scientists of MAVEN were able to observe that the expansion of the atmosphere matched a hundred-fold decline in the particles of solar wind that hit the craft. Solar physicist Jasper Halekas from the University of Iowa, who led the rare event's investigation, explains that when they initially saw the data and noted the dramatic solar wind drop, it was nearly unbelievable.

Such findings were presented by the researchers during the American Geophysical Union's Fall Meeting.

MAVEN mission principal investigator, Shannon Curry, also expresses that the rare occurrence was indeed an anomalous solar event.

In typical cases, solar wind keeps on bombarding the Red Planet and every other planet across the solar system. Because of this, Mars lost the majority of its atmosphere. The magnetosphere of Mars, or its remnants, always pushes against this charged solar wind, which diverts the particles throughout the planet.

However, when solar wind saw a decline, the magnetosphere was left with nothing to push against. This led it to balloon.

Nevertheless, when the solar wind went back to normal, Mars' magnetosphere was shoved back in place.

Researchers think that the sudden voids of solar wind may result from rare gaps in the particles that stream. Such gaps take place because, at times, the unusually fast solar wind particles catch up or end up overtaking particles ahead of them. This leaves space for where solar wind typically is.

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