The explorers and orbiters of the POT “had a front row seat” to witness the solar flares and coronal mass ejections that occurred in the last month. Likewise, they captured the x and gamma rays that caused martian auroras.
It should be noted that, in May of this year, the SWHe had several rashes; one of them, on May 10, had an impact on the Land. However, the rest reached the red planet, according to the US space agency.
[TE RECOMENDAMOS: La NASA planea traer muestras de Marte a partir de 2030 y quiere llevar humanos al planeta rojo]
A solar storm launches X and gamma rays at Mars!
On May 20, a solar flare classification x12 came to Marsaccording to spacecraft data Solar Orbitera joint mission between the POT and the THATaccording to a statement from the North American agency.
“The flare sent X-rays and gamma rays toward the red planet, while a subsequent coronal mass ejection launched charged particles.”
POT
Moving to the speed of lightthe flare rays arrived first, while the charged particles followed slightly behind, reaching Mars in just tens of minutes.
Images of eruptions on the red planet
He Curiosity rover captured the May 20 solar storm, and the event released so much energy that the robot’s black and white images show streaks and white spots caused by charged particles hitting the chamber.
Likewise, the orbiter’s star chamber Mars Odyssey of the POT collected vital data on X-rays, gamma rays and charged particles using its high-energy detector.
- This was not the first meeting of Odyssey, an object designed for these events, with a solar flare. In 2003, he captured particles from a solar flare with radiation X45.
The auroras fall on Mars
For its part, NASA’s MAVEN orbiter captured the brilliant auroras that fell over the planet during the solar storm of May 20th.
“The way these occur auroras It is different from those seen in the Land“, points out the POT in his statement.
- He Purple color shows auroras on the night side of Mars detected by the ultraviolet instrument aboard the orbiter between the May 14 and 20 2024. The brighter the purple, the more auroras were present.
The reason why auroras look this way in Mars It is because in the Land There is a magnetic field that limits the auroras to regions near the poles.
Mars lost its field in the ancient past, so the Red planet It has no protection against barrages of energetic particles. When these hit the martian atmospherethe auroras occur that envelop the entire planet.
“This was the largest solar energy particle event ever.” MAVEN ever seen,” he said. Christina Lee, from the Space Sciences Laboratory at the University of California at Berkeley.
What if the astronauts had been there?
The solar storm, captured in Marsemitted a radiation of 8 thousand 100 microgravsequivalent to 30 chest x-rays, which would not have been fatal, but would have been harmful, according to the POT.
This is the largest increase of radiation measured by the radiation assessment detector (RAD) of the Curiosity since he landed twelve years ago in the martian surface.
What is the use of solar storm data on Mars?
This data will help scientists to plan for the highest level of exposure to radiation that they could find astronauts, who could use the martian landscape as protection.
“Cliffs or lava tubes would provide additional protection to an astronaut from such an event. “In Mars orbit or deep space, the dose rate would be significantly higher.”
Don Hassler, Solar System Science and Exploration Division, Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, Colorado.
Through the statement, issued on Monday, June 10, the researcher predicted that the Sun continue to erupt, causing even more solar storms in the Land and Mars during the next few weeks.
