By: Shawn Wang
At the center of our solar system is the Sun. Mars is closer, while Earth is a few planets further back. In May, the Sun shot out bursts of radiation. This showed us displays of the northern and southern lights. However, we weren’t the only planets affected by this.
On May 20, a few days after the light shows on Earth, the sun fired more radiation, and this time it affected Mars. “This was the strongest solar energetic particle event we’ve seen to date,” said Shannon Curry, the principal investigator of NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution orbiter, or MAVEN, at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
On that day, a powerful solar flare first reached Mars, covering it with X-rays and gamma rays. Right after, a wave of charged particles from the sun hit the planet’s surface.
When these same particles reached the Earth, they were caught in the earth’s magnetic field, which attracted them down into the north and south poles. From there, they became different gas molecules in the atmosphere, temporarily energizing them and unleashing myriads, which are visible colors. Unlike the Earth, Mars lost its magnetic field eons ago, so nothing was able to stop the attacks on its surface.
Mars orbiters and robotic residents were all affected. The MAVEN orbiter recorded a thunderous ultraviolet glow emanating from agitated oxygen atoms, giving off a visible light green hue. Meanwhile, Curiosity and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter were hit by charged particles, inundating them with static like “snow.”
NASA’s Curiosity rover recorded a shower of radiation, which was measured to be equivalent to 30 chest X-rays, a lethal dose to humans. The solar storm serves as a reminder that Mars is dangerous, and future astronauts will have to be more careful. If you’re a Martian astronaut, then “you’d better keep up to date on your space weather forecasts,” said James O’Donoghue, a planetary astronomer at the University of Reading in England.
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/13/science/mars-aurora-solar-storm.html