Latest news with #TheRedPlanet
USA Today
14-05-2025
- Science
- USA Today
Northern lights on Mars? See first aurora photo from The Red Planet.
Northern lights on Mars? See first aurora photo from The Red Planet. Mars doesn't have an organized planetary magnetic field like Earth, so auroras can appear anywhere in the sky. Now there's a photo of one. Show Caption Hide Caption Vibrant aurora seen from space NASA astronaut Don Pettit captured video of a stunning aurora while onboard the ISS. Something new for the Martian tourist brochures: You might get to see auroras. In March 2024, for the first time, scientists observed a visible green aurora on Mars. Although scientists had already detected many different types of auroras on Mars, they had all appeared at ultraviolet wavelengths invisible to the naked eye. Scientists connected the green aurora's appearance to high-energy particles sent by a solar storm eruption. All planets with atmospheres in the Solar System experience auroras, created by the interaction of magnetic fields with high-energy particles from the sun. Auroras occur, both on Earth and Mars, when energetic particles from space rain down on the upper atmosphere, according to NASA. On Earth, these particles are guided toward the poles by our planet's global magnetic field. That's why auroras are seen most often around the Arctic and Antarctic. On Mars, there is no organized planetary magnetic field to guide the particles north and south, so they can go anywhere. 'The presence of visible aurora opens a new avenue for the study of space weather events at Mars,' according to a new study published May 14 in the journal Science Advances. The study was led by Elise Wright Knutsen of the University of Oslo in Norway. Perseverance rover captured the image Using instruments aboard the Perseverance rover, researchers documented the first visible aurora during a solar storm eruption in 2024. They tied the aurora, which appeared on March 18, 2024, to a coronal mass ejection from an intense solar storm. The aurora appeared three days after the storm's eruption on March 15, which suggests the aurora was born from charged energetic particle interactions as the shock front reached the Martian magnetosphere.
Euronews
17-04-2025
- Science
- Euronews
Tatooine-like planet outside the solar system may be orbiting two failed stars
ADVERTISEMENT A new planet like Star Wars' Tatooine detected outside of our solar system may orbit two failed stars, scientists reported Wednesday. The exoplanet 120 light years away takes an unusual path around two brown dwarfs, otherwise known as failed stars. Researchers found in a new analysis, published in the journal Science Advances, that the motion of the brown dwarfs are changing which is less likely to happen if they circled each other. Related The Red Planet or bust: Can the US get humans to Mars in Donald Trump's second term? 'I wouldn't bet my life the planet exists yet' The brown dwarf pair was first spotted years ago by scientists who noted at the time that the twins eclipse each other but the planet itself hasn't been directly seen yet. So more research is needed to figure out its mass and orbit. "I wouldn't bet my life that the planet exists yet," said Simon Albrecht, an astrophysicist with Aarhus University who had no role in the new study. Scientists know of over a dozen planets that orbit two stars like the fictional 'Star Wars' scorching desert planet Tatooine with double sunsets that Luke Skywalker calls home. Related James Webb uncovers evidence that exoplanet may stink of rotten eggs Probing these wacky celestial bodies can help us understand how conditions beyond our solar system may yield planets vastly different from our own, said study author Thomas Baycroft with the University of Birmingham. Planets circling twin stars "existed in sci-fi for decades before we knew that they could even really exist in reality," he said.
Yahoo
16-02-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
On this day: Mars mission hopefuls include Durham University student
On this day in 2015, a Durham University student was among five Britons shortlisted for a one-way trip to Mars, aiming to become the first humans to set foot on the Red Planet. Four women and a man from the UK were selected as part of the final 100 candidates for the Mars One Project, which planned to establish a permanent human settlement on Mars by 2024. More than 200,000 individuals applied for the controversial privately-funded mission, which was estimated to cost six billion dollars and was set to be filmed for a reality television series. Among the British hopefuls was Hannah Earnshaw, 23, a PhD student in astronomy at Durham University. Mars She said: "Human space exploration has always interested me so the opportunity to be one of the people involved was really appealing. "The future of humanity is in space." She added: "My family is pretty thrilled. They're really happy for me. Obviously it's going to be challenging, leaving Earth and not coming back. I've had support from my friends and family and we can still communicate via the internet." As part of the selection process, Ms Earnshaw was to be tested in groups on her response to stressful situations before learning at the end of the year if she would be among the 24 chosen for the mission. She said there would be eight or nine unmanned trips to Mars before the first group of four astronauts would be launched into space in 2024. Addressing the scepticism surrounding the project, Ms Earnshaw remarked, "It's a very ambitious mission and requires lots of things going right for humans to leave the planet. "But this project is encouraging other people to talk about the wider implications." She added, "It's definitely feasible. "Space travel is risky but at the same time, there is a time scale in place." The other British candidates included Dr Maggie Lieu, 24, a PhD in Astrophysics at the University of Birmingham; Ryan MacDonald, 21, an Oxford University student from Derby; Alison Rigby, 35, a science laboratory technician from Beckenham, Kent; and Clare Weedon, 27, a systems integration manager for Virgin Media from Addlestone, Surrey. The Red Planet In total, 50 men and 50 women were shortlisted from around the world, including 39 from the Americas, 31 from Europe, 16 from Asia, seven from Africa, and seven from Oceania. They were selected from a pool of 660 candidates after participating in online interviews with the mission's chief medical officer, Norbert Kraft, where they were assessed on their understanding of the risks involved, team spirit, and motivation to be part of the expedition. Dutch entrepreneur Bas Lansdorp, co-founder of Mars One, stated, "The large cut in candidates is an important step towards finding out who has the right stuff to go to Mars. "These aspiring martians provide the world with a glimpse into who the modern day explorers will be." (From the The Northern Echo of February 16, 2025.)
