Posted on 03/21/2015 10:30:37 PM PDT by BenLurkin
Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN Mission (MAVEN) of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has uncovered two new mysteries in the atmosphere of Mars. The probe, which has been orbiting the Red Planet since last year has noticed a weird high-altitude dust cloud and an aurora show in the atmosphere of the planet. According to reports, the dazzling aurora light show was much lower in the Martian atmosphere than scientists anticipated. In addition, scientists do not know about the origin of the dust cloud.
According to the space agency, the dust cloud had extended from about 150 kilometers to 300 kilometers over the surface of the planet. The agency said that it had not expected a weird dust cloud at those altitudes.
...
"What's especially surprising about the aurora we saw is how deep in the atmosphere it occurs-much deeper than at Earth or elsewhere on Mars. The electrons producing it must be really energetic".
(Excerpt) Read more at mainenewsonline.com ...
/mark
Perhaps finding an aurora on Mars might be an Electric Universe Ping?
I’m confused. I thought Mars lacked a magnetic field. As such, what’s causing an aurora?
It certainly is, and predicted by the scientists at the Electric Universe conferences. ELECTRIC UNIVERSE PING!
Good point. Perhaps this bit of settled science is becoming unsettled.
Maybe it is caused by Global warming?
Marvin the Martian, please clean up Mars...
...a weird high-altitude dust cloud and an aurora...There were some earlier topics:
Probably because Mars has no magnetic field.
Curious. This particular article didn’t point out what several other articles did; that is, the “aurora” is apparently only “visible” in the ultraviolet. Maybe it’s more like a UV rainbow???
Mars has a very weak magnetic field, compared to Earth, but it does have stronger spots of permanently magnetized crust that would create localized magnetic fields, which probably also generate localized atmospheric electrical phenomena (lightning storms, etc).
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.