NASA made headlines with a press release revealing that solar flares and coronal mass ejections had reached Mars, creating captivating “Martian Auroras”.
During the peak of solar activity, the sun releases coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – large-scale plasma expulsions from its outer atmosphere known as the corona, triggering geomagnetic and solar storms and gorgeous auroras.
A recent massive solar storm treated Americans to a rare two-week display of northern lights.
NASA’s Mars rovers, orbiters, and satellites captured a potent solar event on May 20, featuring an exceptionally powerful solar flare.
This flare sent X-rays and gamma rays towards Mars, followed by a coronal mass ejection releasing charged particles.
At NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, experts monitored the space weather and issued alerts about potential charged particles.
If astronauts stood by NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover during the event, they would have received a radiation dose equivalent to 30 chest X-rays.
The absence of a magnetic field leaves Mars vulnerable to energetic particles that create stunning auroras in its atmosphere.
NASA’s MAVEN orbiter recently observed glowing planetary auroras on Mars, marking the largest solar energetic particle event it had ever witnessed.
These recent solar activities have continued, with the SWPC recording a strong sun radiation storm on Saturday, the most intense since September 2017.
Such radiation storms can pose risks to space operations and satellites due to potential degradation or loss of high-frequency signals.