Big solar flare incoming? Intriguing black patch on Sun captured by Perseverance Mars rover

Currently rolling across the Red planet, NASA's Perseverance Mars rover has sent amazing pictures of an intriguing patch on the sun, that is not yet visible from Earth.

Using its Mastcam-Z camera system, Perseverance managed to capture the big sunspot moving across the solar disk late last week and over the weekend.

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Notably, the rover captures images of the Sun daily to gauge the amount of dust present in the Martian atmosphere.

These sunspots are capable of spitting out powerful solar storms. Perseverance helps scientists spot them before they become visible from Earth. The rover manages to spot these sunspots early because Mars is orbiting the far side of the Sun and thus has a week headstart over Earth.

The sunspots are able to emit powerfulcoronal mass ejections (CMEs) that can slam into Earth and trigger potentially dangerous geomagnetic storms, regardless of whether we can see the dark patches. This means we can be caught off guard by extreme space weather events.

Perseverance's primary duty

While the rover routinely sends the picture of the Sun, it remains its auxiliary duty. The main task of the rover is to hunt for evidence of life on Mars and the Martian rocks could provide clues about how the Red planet evolved.

Notably, the rover is part of an international, interplanetary relay team created to unravel the secrets of our neighbourhood planet.

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Around 2028, a Sample Retrieval Lander is expected to be launched from Earth, carrying a NASA-led Mars rocket and small Mars helicopters. The lander will land near a crater nearby the rover and the rocks collected by Perseverance would be loaded upon the rocket.

Notably, the lander needs to be close to the Perseverance rover to facilitate the transfer of Mars samples. It must land within 66 yards (60 metres) of its target site.

"Two Ingenuity-like helicopters would provide a secondary capability to retrieve samples on the surface of Mars. Once the sample cache is launched off the Red Planet, another spacecraft would capture it in Mars orbit, and then bring it to Earth safely and securely in the early to mid-2030s," NASA informed.

(With inputs from agencies)

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