Hundreds of auroras detected on Mars

[telfrow]

<i>Auroras similar to Earth's Northern Lights appear to be common on Mars, according to physicists at the University of California, Berkeley, who have analyzed six years' worth of data from the Mars Global Surveyor. The discovery of hundreds of auroras over the past six years comes as a surprise, since Mars does not have the global magnetic field that on Earth is the source of the aurora borealis and the antipodal aurora australis. <br /><br />According to the physicists, the auroras on Mars aren't due to a planet-wide magnetic field, but instead are associated with patches of strong magnetic field in the crust, primarily in the southern hemisphere. And they probably aren't as colorful either, the researchers say: The energetic electrons that interact with molecules in the atmosphere to produce the glow probably generate only ultraviolet light - not the reds, greens and blues of Earth. <br /><br />"The fact that we see auroras as often as we do is amazing," said UC Berkeley physicist David A. Brain, the lead author of a paper on the discovery recently accepted by the journal Geophysical Research Letters. "The discovery of auroras on Mars teaches us something about how and why they happen elsewhere in the solar system, including on Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune." </i><br /><br />Full story here: http://www.physorg.com/news8987.html <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <strong><font color="#3366ff">Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild.</font> - <font color="#3366ff"><em>Tennyson</em></font></strong> </div>

 

[hiddenmeteor]

wow... i would love to see an aurora.......but only if it were colorful!

 

[tohaki]

I served in the army in Northern Norway and there it could fill the whole sky.

 

[yevaud]

Astounding, isn't it? (you were up beyond Trondheim?). <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>Differential Diagnosis:  </em>"<strong><em>I am both amused and annoyed that you think I should be less stubborn than you are</em></strong>."<br /> </p> </div>

 

[bonzelite]

i'd like to know if they have detected lightning as well. <br /><br />

 

[rfoshaug]

I live in Northern Norway (69° North, 18º East - probably about where Tohaki served in the army), and although most winter nights don't have much aurora, sometimes it really fills the sky with a mostly green and violet ghostly glow.<br /><br />It can be really beautiful, but it can also just be a pale green glow that ruins any deep-sky obervations with my telescope.<br /><br />But then there are cold winter nights, when nature makes no sounds at all, no wind, no birds singing, no insects, all the rivers are frozen so they don't make a sound, so it's really quiet outside. When Sirius hangs low just above the southern horizon and the aurora is flaming over the sky, coming and going in waves, curling up in long, green bands across the sky, it's probably the most beautiful thing in the world...<br /><br />But what I think is more unique here than the northern lights, is the total lack of sunlight from mid-November until the start of February. So now, the sun will be gone for another 50 days or so.<br /><br />Around christmas, the only hours of the day when you don't see stars is from about 10 am to 2 pm, and if Venus is up, you'd see it even at noon, because it never gets brighter than twilight. On the other hand, we don't see any stars at all in May, June and July.<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff9900">----------------------------------</font></p><p><font color="#ff9900">My minds have many opinions</font></p> </div>

 

[bonzelite]

that's awesome. i've never seen the aurorae. it must be strange to have no sunlight for months.

 

[tohaki]

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>you were up beyond Trondheim?<p><hr /></p></p></blockquote>Yes, roughly 1000 km further north, in the county of Troms. There are several large army camps in inner Troms.<br /><br />Here in Trondheim we get it very seldom and not anywhere close to on the same scale.