[X] My Assistant

[RNeuhaus]

Fri, 17 Feb 2006 - ESA's Mars Express spacecraft has spotted evidence of auroras over the night time side of Mars. These auroras make v-shaped structures of accelerated electrons and ions, similar to what we see here on Earth. Mars doesn't have a planetary magnetic field, so the discovery of auroras came as a surprise; however, it does have magnetic regions - the remnants of an old planetary magnetic field. Since Mars is always lit from our vantage point here on Earth, it required a spacecraft to find the auroras, which are only detectable at night on Mars.



The auroras are close to a Pole. According to the above picture, due to the incidence of light, it seems to be on the South Pole, Planum Australe. That is a surprise since Mars has no strong magnetic fields to catch any wind solar particles. So there is some magnetic region.

More details here.

Rodolfo

[SigurRosFan]

http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.php?showtopic=1833 - More Martian Auroras, Hundreds of auroras detected on Mars