Aurora And Mysterious Cloud Spotted On Mars

NASA detected two phenomenons

WORLD.- The MAVEN spaceship, who was sent by NASA on November 18th, 2013 to study Mars atmosphere, observed two unexpected phenomenons surrounding the planet: An inexplicable dust cloud at great height and a aurora that deeply enters the Martian atmosphere.

MAVEN spotted the presence of dust in orbital height of approximately 150 and 300 kilometers above its surface.

In spite of the origin and composition of the dust still being unknown, NASA informed through their webpage that this phenomenon doesn't represent any threat to MAVEN or any spaceship orbiting around the Red Planet.

"If the dust is originated in the atmosphere, this suggests that we are missing a fundamental process

within the atmosphere" mentioned Laila Anderson from the Colorado State University Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (CU LASP).

Aside from the dust cloud the spaceship also spotted what scientists named as "Christmas lights". During a five day period before December 25th, MAVEN spotted an ultraviolet auroral gleam that took up all of Mars Northern hemisphere.

"What is specially surprising of this aurora is the deepness with which it enters the atmosphere, much more deeper that it would on Earth or any other place of Mars", commented Arnaud Stiepen, member of the IUVS team at Colorado University.

MAVEN was launched in order to help solve the mystery of how the Red Planet lost the majority of its atmosphere as well as a great part of its water. The spaceship arrived on Mars on September 21st, 2014.

With information from cienciaplus.com and NASA

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alain.gonzalez@sandiegored.com

zyanya.figueroa@sandiegored.com

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