First observations of a novel sort of proton aurora surrounding Mars have been made by the Emirates Mars Mission (EMM), the first interplanetary exploration project launched by an Arab nation.
The proton aurora captured on Mars by the Emirati Mars mission are comparable to the aurora that’s visible near Earth’s North Pole (Northern Lights)
Simply put, the Solar Wind is drawn to Earth’s magnetic field where it eventually collides with atoms in the atmosphere to generate the Northern Lights.
The high-speed solar wind directly strikes Mars’ dayside upper atmosphere, creating this unique patchy type of Martian proton aurora, which produces ultraviolet light as it slows down.
The Emirates Mars Ultraviolet Spectrometer (EMUS), which monitors the planet’s upper atmosphere and exosphere in search of variations in atmospheric composition and atmospheric escape to space, captured images of the dayside disc that led to the discovery of the aurora.
The Emirates Mars Mission is researching the Martian atmosphere and how the upper and lower atmospheres interact.
The UAE’s Golden Jubilee in 2021 will be commemorated during the same year as the Hope Probe’s momentous landing on Mars.
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