The solar storms that produced the stunning auroras seen around the world on May 10 also gave Mars whiplash, sparking auroras over the Red Planet and doused the surface with harmful radiation.
The main source of solar storms was an active region. AR3664It was a dense knot of magnetic flux on the sun, inhabited by dozens of people. sunspots unleashing many powerful things flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) as they spin toward us and then around the sun, towards Mars.
The strongest explosion during this period occurred on May 20, 2024. Soil It was on the other side of the sun, but Mars was directly in the line of fire. a dam gamma rays and X-rays flew towards Mars at the speed of light, followed a few days later by the slower-moving charged particles of the coronal mass ejection.
On the surface, in Mars’ Gale crater, Curiosity Mars roverThe Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD) usually records an average daily radiation dose of approximately 700 microgrids. During a solar storm, radiation detected by RAD was up to 8,100 microgrids; This is equivalent to approximately 30 chest X-rays being taken at the same time.
While still far from instantly fatal, multiple exposures to this type of exposure during an extended stay on the planet would greatly increase health risks. On the other hand, this was the largest burst of radiation detected by RAD since Curiosity landed on Mars 12 years ago, so such high doses are not normal.
Astronauts could potentially take shelter in caves connected to pit craters and lava tubes on the sides of volcanoes, like the pit that recently made the rounds. a shape Distributed from NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Don Hassler of the Southwest Research Institute, RAD’s principal investigator, agrees with this safety measure.
“Cliff edges or lava tubes would provide additional protection for an astronaut against such an event,” he said. expression. But not everyone can hide in a cave, especially if you’re not on the planet. “In Mars orbit or deep space, this rate would be significantly higher.”
Indeed it was. Radiation was so high it disabled orbiters Mars Space Adventure The main star-finding camera that the spacecraft uses to orient itself. Although the camera was back online an hour later, it was a reminder that spacecraft were vulnerable to sunlight. In October 2003, Mars Odyssey’s radiation detector was burned by radiation from one of the largest solar flares in living memory.
Another spacecraft orbiting Mars EXPERT (Martian Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) was more successful and managed to capture the Martian aurora above Mars as charged particles from the CME rained down on the Red Planet.
In addition to imaging the Martian aurora from high above, MAVEN was able to capture a number of charged particles with its Solar Particle instrument. On the ground, black and white images captured by Curiosity’s navigation camera (Navcam) crackled with ‘snow’; White spots and streaks caused by energetic particles hitting the camera sensor.
“This was the largest solar energetic particle event MAVEN has ever seen,” said Christina Lee of the University of California, Berkeley. Lee is the Space Weather Leader for the MAVEN team. “There have been a lot of solar events in the past weeks, so we were seeing waves of particles hitting Mars.”
Actually it all looks like this solar system It took a beating from the sun in May, as its active zones spewed particles and radiation in all directions. Auroras seen on Earth and Mars may also be a summary of what will happen in the future. sun activity cycle We can expect many more solar storms in the coming months as we approach maximum in July 2025, and their effects will be visible on an interplanetary scale.
There are two things on Earth that will protect us from this radiation attack; our planet’s global magnetic field and thick atmosphere, which can deflect and absorb radiation respectively.
However, Mars lacks a global magnetic field, although it does have localized magnetic pockets believed to be remnants of an ancient planetary field. The Martian atmosphere is also relatively sparse compared to Earth’s. Combined, this means the red planet bears the full brunt of a solar storm.
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The Earth’s magnetic field is formed by the solar wind into a teardrop shape called a magnetotail. When a CME hits, charged particles become trapped in the magnetotail, which acts as a kind of solar wind sock. Pressure from the CME compresses the magnetotail, separating it from the Earth’s magnetic field. As the magnetotail is carried away from us by the solar wind (don’t worry, the Earth regrows its magnetotail, just like a salamander regrows a lost limb), the charged particles trapped within it are free to follow the magnetic field lines into the magnetic field. poles.
On the way, charged particles collide with atmospheric molecules, primarily oxygen, nitrogen, and hydrogen, causing the aurora to glow green, red, and blue, respectively. This is why we tend to see auroras closer to the poles rather than the equator.
Since Mars lacks a magnetic field to trap charged particles and direct them toward the poles, when a CME hits, charged particles leak directly into the atmosphere throughout the planet. Because Mars has some molecular oxygen in its atmosphere, its auroras tend to be green in color.