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Physicists Explain Mysterious “Discrete Aurora” on Mars - SciTechDaily
May 21, 2022 1 min, 44 secs

Researchers led by the University of Iowa have learned how a type of aurora on Mars is formed.

In a new study, the physicists report discrete aurora form through the interaction of the solar wind and the crust at Mars’ southern hemisphere.

Scientists have learned how discrete aurora is formed on Mars.

In a new study, the physicists report that the upstream solar wind properties interacting with the crustal magnetic fields found in Mars’ southern hemisphere strongly affect the formation and properties of the Martian discrete aurora.

Physicists led by the University of Iowa have learned how a type of aurora on Mars is formed.

Instead, the physicists report, discrete aurora on Mars are governed by the interaction between the solar wind—the constant jet of charged particles from the sun—and magnetic fields generated by the crust at southern latitudes on Mars.

It’s the nature of this localized interaction between the solar wind and the crustal magnetic fields that leads to discrete aurora, the scientists discovered.

“We have the first detailed study looking at how solar wind conditions affect aurora on Mars,” says Zachary Girazian, an associate research scientist in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and the study’s corresponding author.

“Our main finding is that inside the strong crustal field region, the aurora occurrence rate depends mostly on the orientation of the solar wind magnetic field, while outside the strong crustal field region, the occurrence rate depends mostly on the solar wind dynamic pressure.”.

The findings come from more than 200 observations of discrete aurora on Mars by the NASA-led Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft.

One of the instruments used to make the observations, the Solar Wind Ion Analyzer, is led by Jasper Halekas, associate professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and a co-author of the studyM

The database of discrete aurora observations we have from MAVEN is the first of its kind, allowing us to understand basic features of the aurora for the first time,” Girazian says.

Reference: “Discrete Aurora at Mars: Dependence on Upstream Solar Wind Conditions” by Z.

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