Auroras over Mars? NASA observes Mars flare-up during epic solar storm

Our Sun is going through major mood swings, called solar maximum in technical words, which is the season of peak activity on solar surface. During this period, the Sun produces a lot of solar flares which eventually turn into solar storms that can causeatmospheric phenomenonlike auroras or northern lights.

Recently, we saw auroras being brought down to many far south places, like in Alabama, due to these solar storms. Scientists were on standby to observe such an event on Mars as well.

Finally, on May 20, NASA recorded a solar flare, which they are calling “the biggest event”, whose details were released on Monday (June 10).

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On May 20, a solar flare of X12 class was detected by the Solar Orbiter spacecraft, which is a joint mission between ESA and NASA. X-class flares are known to be the strongest of several types of them.

The May 20 flare released X-rays and gamma rays toward Mars, while a coronal mass ejection or CME launched the charged particles. Moving at the speed of light, the X-rays and gamma rays from the flare arrived first, while the charged particles trailed slightly behind, reaching Mars in just tens of minutes.

“If astronauts had been standing next to NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover at the time, they would have received a radiation dose of 8,100 micrograys — equivalent to 30 chest X-rays. While not deadly, it was the biggest surge measured by Curiosity’s Radiation Assessment Detector, or RAD, since the rover landed 12 years ago,” revealed NASA in its official report.

Were Auroras seen over Mars?

As per data from the Solar Orbiter, so much energy from the storm was released on May 20 that the surface of the planet in black-and-white images from the Curiosity’s navigation cameras appears to be “dancing with snow”. These dancing snow particles were actuallywhite streaks and specks caused bycharged particles when they hit the cameras.

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High above Curiosity, NASA’s MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) orbiter captured another effect of the recent solar activity- glowing auroras over the planet. However, the way these auroras occur is different than those seen on Earth.

Our planet is protected from charged particles by a robust magnetic field, which normally limits auroras to regions near the poles. But Mars lost its internally generated magnetic field in the past, so there’s no protection from the barrage of energetic particles. When charged particles hit the Martian atmosphere, it results in auroras that engulf the entire planet.

"During solar events, the Sun releases a wide range of energetic particles. Only the most energetic can reach the surface to be measured by RAD. Slightly less energetic particles, those that cause auroras, are sensed by MAVEN’s Solar Energetic Particle instrument," said NASA.

“This was the largest solar energetic particle event that MAVEN has ever seen,” said MAVEN Space Weather Lead, Christina Lee of the University of California, Berkeley’s Space Sciences Laboratory.

(With inputs from agencies)