Mars' atmosphere changed by flares from the sun

[telfrow]

<p>Boston University astronomers announced today the first clear evidence that solar flares change the upper atmosphere of Mars. In an article published in the February 24th issue of the journal Science, the researchers describe how X-ray bursts from the Sun in April 2001 recorded by satellites near Earth reached Mars and caused dramatic enhancements to the planet's ionosphere – the region of a planet's atmosphere where the Sun's ultraviolet and X-rays are absorbed by atoms and molecules.<br /><br />The measurements were made by the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) spacecraft at the Red Planet as it transmitted signals back to NASA's antenna sites back on Earth. <br /><br />"On April 15th and 26th of 2001, radio signals from MGS showed that the martian ionosphere was unusually dense, and this was the clue that some extra production of ions and electrons had occurred," explained Michael Mendillo, professor of astronomy, who led the BU research team in its Center for Space Physics. <br /><br />"At Earth, the GOES satellites measure the Sun's X-rays almost continuously," said Dr. Paul Withers of BU. "Our search of their large database discovered several cases of flares occurring just minutes before MGS detected enhancements in Mars' ionosphere." <br /><br />The extra electrons produced by the Sun's X-rays cause subtle changes in how the MGS radiowaves travel towards Earth. Therefore, the team wanted to find several unambiguous case study events before announcing their findings. <br /><br />The Radio Science Experiment on MGS has made observations of Mars' ionosphere since its arrival there in late 1999. Its radio transmissions are received by NASA and then cast into scientifically meaningful data by Dr. David Hinson at Stanford University who provides open access to researchers worldwide via a website. "We needed Dr. Hinson's expert advice to make sure that some odd changes in the MGS radio signal had not occurred just by chance," Dr. Withers added. <br /><br /><br /></p> <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>

 

[yevaud]

Mighty interesting. Thanks for the post. <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>

 

[yevaud]

Abstract Prior to this Finding<br /><br />This as well<br /><br />You might also remember Mendillo as one of the small team who managed to obtain some proof of the Moon's quite tenuous atmosphere, a few years back.<br /><br />Brief Abstract Here <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>