The UAE probe discovers new and unusual types of aurora borealis on the surface of Mars
The United Arab Emirates Space Agency’s interplanetary station “Hope” has transmitted images of the unusual auroras on Mars, including the “Split Zigzag”, a gigantic meander-shaped worm that occupies half of the planet’s disk and reaches the equator.
The UAE mission to Mars is the first interplanetary expedition by an Arab country, and is specifically dedicated to studies of interactions between the Martian atmosphere, the planet’s local magnetic fields and the solar wind. The sightings include a never-before-seen phenomenon that the team dubbed “discrete twisted auroras.”
Hessa Al Matrooshi, the expedition’s scientific director, explained. “When we first photographed the separate auroras of Mars shortly after our probe reached the planet in 2021, we realized we had unlocked a new possibility for making observations previously impossible at this scale, and decided to devote more attention.”
– We obtain comprehensive images of the atmosphere of almost the entire disk of Mars to study all atmospheric phenomena. This means that we can observe discrete aurora boreal effects on this scale and as hard to predict in advance.”
The “discrete, twisted aurora” consists of long, worm-like emission bands of excited electrons in the upper atmosphere, extending for thousands of kilometers from the day side to the night side of Mars.
These observations were made at a time when Mars was experiencing particularly strong solar storms, resulting in electron currents of the fastest, most turbulent solar winds, the brightest and widest auroras. They are very elongated regions that glow in the ultraviolet, where energetic electrons interact with atoms and molecules in the upper layers of Mars’ atmosphere – about 130 kilometers above the planet’s surface.
The interplanetary magnetic field is transmitted by the solar wind and, as it does, envelops Mars, combining with the special magnetism of the Martian crust, resulting in the formation of the Martian magnetosphere tail and the manifestation of a complex pattern of local magnetic fields on the Martian night side. The Hope EMUS (UAE Mars Ultraviolet Spectrometer) observations cover the wavelength range from 90 to 180 nm.
