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Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
This photo is terrible, but it proves that other planets get auroras too. Mars rover snaps a first-ever photo of the aurora visible from another planet
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Mars doesn't have magnetic poles like Earth does, but that doesn't stop the red planet from experiencing the night sky phenomenon known as the aurora. The Mars rover Perseverance made history by taking the first-ever photograph of an aurora from another planet, following a March 15 solar flare. The discovery confirms what scientists have theorized for years: that if astronauts ever did land on the fourth planet from the sun, they could still see auroras caused by mass solar ejections. Martian auroras have been previously observed from orbit using ultraviolet light equipment, but the image captured in March is the first time that auroral activity has been observed from on the planet itself, and with visible light camera equipment. The photograph shows a grainy green sky – the green being the auroral activity. NASA shared the photo this week alongside a standard photo of the night sky, which lacks the green color, for comparison. The image was captured from the rover Perseverance, which is led by the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Importantly, the Martian aurora shouldn't be referred to as the Northern Lights or Southern Lights. NASA says the green light in the photograph is an entirely different kind of aurora. Because Mars doesn't have magnetic poles like Earth does, the planet won't experience the same type of aurora that is caused by solar particles being drawn to the magnetic poles, where they interact with gases in the atmosphere. The aurora captured by Perseverance, NASA explains, was called a solar energetic particle or SEP aurora. This type of aurora happens when particles from a solar flare interact with the Martian atmosphere. With no magnetic fields funneling the light show to the north and south poles, this SEP aurora creates a glow across the entire night sky. While the Martian SEP auroras were previously discovered in 2014, the photograph proves that the green auroras could be observed from Mars' surface. Timing the Perseverance's camera with solar activity was a multi-team effort, led by researchers from the University of Oslo in Norway in a study in Science Advances. Elise Knutsen, a postdoctoral researcher from the university, said her team strategized the optical angle for the rover's spectrometer and camera to observe the aurora. But like on Earth, timing is essential in spotting any auroral activity. Knusten's team worked with NASA's Moon to Mars Space Weather Analysis Office and the Community Coordinated Modeling Center for real-time analysis of solar activity. Space physicist and MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere Volatile Evolution) team member Christina Lee, of the University of California, Berkeley, spotted the solar storm, flagging the activity on the Mars Space Weather Alert Notification system. A few days after the March 15 solar activity, the rover was able to capture the image of the green aurora as the solar activity reached the planet. The presence of solar activity was confirmed by the MAVEN SEP instruments, as well as data from the European Space Agency. While Mars experiences a different type of aurora, the 557.7 nm emission measured by the Mars instruments is the same emission level that causes the green color during Earth's Northern and Southern Lights. For more Mars rover inspiration, check out this solar eclipse captured from Mars. Or, learn how to photograph the aurora (from Earth, of course!) or what astrophotography events to photograph for May.
Yahoo
06-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Striking image and video of 'Steeple Mountain' on Jupiter's moon Io are concept art — but authentic pics do exist
In March and April 2025, internet users shared a striking image that they claimed showed "Steeple Mountain," a massive point of interest on Jupiter's moon Io. For example, one X user posted (archived) the image with the caption, "An actual mountain on Jupiter's moon Io." Other users also shared the image with similar captions, including one person who simply added (archived), crediting NASA, "Discovered on Jupiter's moon Io — Steeple Mountain looks like a mountain straight out of a fantasy novel." (@latestinspace/X) As NASA's website (archived) and at least one of the aforementioned X users noted (archived), however, the image and a sweeping video animation (archived) of the same scene were both conceptual artwork based on authentic data about a real feature on Io. NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory spokesperson David C. Agle also confirmed by email that the image and video were artist's conceptions created from various data points that specialized equipment gathered as part of the Juno mission. The creator of the artwork sourced genuine, raw images of Steeple Mountain, which appear later in this article. According to NASA, Steeple Mountain — a nickname credited (archived) to the Juno science team — stands (archived) between 3 and 4.3 miles (5 and 7 kilometers), or 15,840 to 22,704 feet, in height. By comparison, Mount Everest stands at an elevation of 29,032 feet (8,849 meters) above sea level. The tallest mountain on Earth — measured not by elevation above sea level but rather from base to peak — is Mauna Kea in Hawaii, standing 33,481 feet (10,205 meters) in height. The creators of the image and animation, which NASA first published in April 2024, sourced the data to create the two pieces of media from a special visible-light camera named JunoCam (archived), which captures (archived) three-color (red, green and blue) and methane-band images. Malin Space Science Systems (MSSS) created JunoCam for NASA's Juno mission, which launched in August 2011. The mission, focused on studying Jupiter and its moons, reached Jupiter's orbit on July 4, 2016. NASA announced the mission would continue through September 2025, "or until the spacecraft's end of life." On April 19, 2024, a Juno Mission website hosted by Southwest Regional Institute (SwRI) featured an article (archived) about the mountain and also "an almost glass-smooth lake of cooling lava." The story's author referenced "extremely close flybys" of Jupiter as being "within 930 miles (1,500 kilometers) of the surface" and also noted Io's many volcanoes and the theory that "Jupiter was likely the first planet to form." A search of SwRI's JunoCam website located an authentic and downloadable set of red, green and blue images — including the raw band images — showing Steeple Mountain. Several creators also shared their slightly enhanced versions of the source images, which rendered the features on Io more clearly. This picture shows a raw image of Steeple Mountain on Io. (Image courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS) The descriptions of some Juno mission images capturing Jupiter and its moons featured the word "enhanced," communicating to users the full context of the pictures' alterations. "Io's 'Steeple Mountain' (Artist's Concept)." NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), 18 Apr. 2024, "Io's 'Steeple Mountain' (Artist's Concept)." YouTube, JPLraw, 17 Apr. 2024, "Juno - Jupiter Missions." NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), "JunoCam Images." NASA Science, "JunoCam : Processing." Mission Juno, "Malin Space Science Systems." Junocam, Juno Jupiter Orbiter, NASA / SwRI / MSSS. "'Io Image.'" Mission Juno, 30 Dec. 2023, NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS. "Catalog Page for PIA26294." NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planetary Data System, 18 Apr. 2024, "NASA's Juno Gives Aerial Views of Mountain, Lava Lake on Io." Mission Juno, 19 Apr. 2024, Saunders, Toby. "What Is the Tallest Mountain in the World? No, It's Not Mount Everest." BBC Science Focus Magazine, 1 July 2023,
Forbes
03-04-2025
- Science
- Forbes
Big Mars Dust Devil Eats Smaller Twister In NASA Rover Video
This large dust devil in the center consumed a smaller nearby dust devil on Mars in January. Future human visitors to Mars will have to deal with an unfriendly planet. It's dusty. It's windy. Sometimes those two factors come together in a swirling spectacle. NASA's Perseverance Mars rover captured a group of dust devils out for a dance across the red planet's surface. Be forewarned there's some dust-devil cannibalism. The NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory shared the rover's extraordinary view in a video released on April 3. The images come from late January. The video shows several dusty twisters swirling across the landscape. The largest one closest to the rover measured 210 feet in width. That's about the wingspan of a 747 airplane. Look for two other obvious dust devils in the background. You might think a jumbo dust devil on Mars would fling you around like Dorothy in 'The Wizard of Oz,' but that's not the case. 'If you were standing there, not to worry,' said atmospheric scientist Priya Patel in the video. 'The Martian atmosphere is so thin that it would feel like a gust of wind, though you'd get pretty dirty.' A video of Perseverance rover images shows a larger dust devil consuming a smaller one. There's a sneaky fourth dust devil in the video. A smaller puff can be seen trailing the closest twister. The larger dust devil ate up the daintier one, which was just 16 feet wide. 'If two dust devils happen upon each other, they can either obliterate one another or merge, with the stronger one consuming the weaker,' Perseverance scientist Mark Lemmon said in a NASA statement. It's a dust-devil-eat-dust-devil world on Mars. 'If you feel bad for the little devil in our latest video, it may give you some solace to know the larger perpetrator most likely met its own end a few minutes later,' said Lemmon. 'Dust devils on Mars only last about 10 minutes.' The big dust devil in the video is reminiscent of a well-known sighting from 2012 when NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft saw a real whopper from up above. That dust devil's plume was about 210 feet wide, much like the one Perseverance saw. However, MRO's dust devil measured out at around 12 miles high. That's roughly the height of two Mount Everests stacked on top of each other. NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spotted a 12-mile-high dust devil in 2012. Studying dust devils is about more than the wow factor of these wild whirlwinds cavorting across the landscape. They can help scientists understand wind patterns, surface-atmosphere interactions and climate. 'Every time we spot a dust devil, it helps us refine our climate models of Mars,' Patel said. Perseverance is exploring the rim of the Jezero Crater. It landed inside the crater in early 2021 and spent its time examining an ancient river delta and collecting rock samples. It took an epic climb, but the rover made it to the rim late in 2024. Scientists were eager to get a closer look at unusual formations that had only been seen from above by orbiting spacecraft. The crater rim is a whole new adventure. Percy recently spotted a strange rock packed with spherules and scientists hope to figure out where it came from. The rover is continuing its rock-collecting hobby by taking samples from the rim and sealing them in tubes. NASA hopes to send a future mission to retrieve the rover's samples and bring them back to Earth for closer study. The samples could be key to answering our most pressing Mars question: Did the red planet once host microbial life? Mars was a much more watery place long ago and NASA rovers have spotted intriguing hints of possible ancient life. The rovers are rolling laboratories, but they're not equipped to find a definitive answer. For that, we need laboratories and scientists on Earth. NASA's current rovers, Perseverance and Curiosity, are built to withstand the dusty Mars environment. Both use a nuclear power source so they don't end up defunct like the solar-powered Opportunity rover. Opportunity succumbed to a planet-wide dust storm that kicked up in 2018. That storm makes Perseverance's Mars dust devils look pretty tame by comparison.
Arab News
06-03-2025
- Science
- Arab News
NASA powers down two instruments on twin Voyager spacecraft to save power
NEW YORK: NASA is switching off two science instruments on its long-running twin Voyager spacecraft to save power. The space agency said Wednesday an instrument on Voyager 2 that measures charged particles and cosmic rays will shut off later this month. Last week, NASA powered down an instrument on Voyager 1 designed to study cosmic rays. The energy-saving moves were necessary to extend their missions, Voyager project manager Suzanne Dodd at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory said in a statement. The twin spacecraft launched in 1977 and are currently in interstellar space, or the space between stars. Voyager 1 discovered a thin ring around Jupiter and several of Saturn's moons, and Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft to visit Uranus and Neptune. Each spacecraft still has three instruments apiece to study the sun's protective bubble and the swath of space beyond. Voyager 1 is over 15 billion miles (24.14 billion kilometers) from Earth and Voyager 2 is over 13 billion miles (20.92 billion kilometers) away.
The Independent
05-03-2025
- Science
- The Independent
NASA powers down two instruments on twin Voyager spacecraft to save power
NASA is switching off two science instruments on its long-running twin Voyager spacecraft to save power. The space agency said Wednesday an instrument on Voyager 2 that measures charged particles and cosmic rays will shut off later this month. Last week, NASA powered down an instrument on Voyager 1 designed to study cosmic rays. The energy-saving moves were necessary to extend their missions, Voyager project manager Suzanne Dodd at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory said in a statement. The twin spacecraft launched in 1977 and are currently in interstellar space, or the space between stars. Voyager 1 discovered a thin ring around Jupiter and several of Saturn's moons, and Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft to visit Uranus and Neptune. Each spacecraft still has three instruments apiece to study the sun's protective bubble and the swath of space beyond. Voyager 1 is over 15 billion miles (24.14 billion kilometers) from Earth and Voyager 2 is over 13 billion miles (20.92 billion kilometers) away. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
