This Is Mars As You’ve Never Seen It Before (PICTURES)
In the ultraviolet spectrum
The image of Mars as we have it in our mind is a red planet with white poles and many craters. However, NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution ( MAVEN ) orbiting the Red Planet gave us a very different look.
One of MAVEN’s science instruments can see through the ultraviolet spectrum, the wavelength invisible to the human eye. In this spectrum we can see different gases and interactions taking place in the Martian atmosphere.
For example, MAVEN revealed strange auroras in the ultraviolet spectrum at high altitude above Mars. This invisible glow is produced in the atmosphere at night by atoms reuniting after being separated by sunlight.
The clouds are colored white or blue, while the surface is green or brown. Atmospheric ozone was colored purple. The two images were captured six months apart, showing the changes in the planet’s seasons. The image above was captured in July 2022 and shows summer in the Southern Hemisphere, with the atmosphere clear and clouds filling the canyons of the Valles Marineris in the upper left. Pole ice is at its smallest extent, while water vapor is detected at high altitudes, driven by summer heat and sandstorms.
The second image below was taken in January 2023. The seasons on Mars last twice as long as on Earth, so this means it captures spring in the northern hemisphere.
The changing seasons have produced quite a few white clouds in the Northern Hemisphere, with a concentration of ozone that you see in purple. Ozone builds up in the atmosphere on cold winter nights and dissolves in the spring through interactions with water vapor as the polar ice melts.
MAVEN was originally designed for a two-year mission, but has been in orbit around Mars since September 2014 and its mission has been extended without a limit as long as it is still operating without problems.
