Tag Archives: atmosphere

MAVEN data solves Mars particle-beam puzzle

High above the surface of Mars’s sunlit side, protons of the solar wind begin to smash into the upper reaches of Mars’s atmosphere. NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution Mission (MAVEN) spacecraft, which arrived at the Red Planet in 2014, … Continue reading

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Mars mystery plumes caused by space weather?

Mysterious high-rise clouds seen appearing suddenly in the martian atmosphere on a handful of occasions may be linked to space weather, say Mars Express scientists. [The results are published in the Journal of Geophysical Research.] Amateur astronomers using telescopes on … Continue reading

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Hubble takes Mars image near closest approach

Bright, frosty polar caps, and clouds above a vivid, rust-colored landscape reveal Mars as a dynamic seasonal planet in this NASA Hubble Space Telescope view taken on May 12, 2016, when Mars was 50 million miles from Earth. The Hubble … Continue reading

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MARCI weather report, May 9-15, 2016

Continued widespread dust activity on Mars this past week. The arcuate shaped polar dust storm mentioned in the previous week propagated eastward to Utopia before subsiding into a diffuse dust cloud. Meanwhile, in the southern hemisphere, local-scale dust storms and … Continue reading

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MAVEN passes 600 days at Mars

The MAVEN spacecraft entered Mars’ orbit on September 21, 2014 and has now spent more than 600 (Earth) days exploring the climate history of the Red Planet through its atmosphere. In addition to keeping up with the mission on Facebook, … Continue reading

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MARCI weather report, May 2-8, 2016

Dust storm activity picked up this last week on Mars. At the beginning of the week, a couple local-scale dust storms were spotted near the edge of the north polar ice cap, over Acidalia and Olympia. By mid-week, a more … Continue reading

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Curiosity ends second Mars year at Gale Crater

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover today completes its second Martian year since landing inside Gale Crater nearly four Earth years ago, which means it has recorded environmental patterns through two full cycles of Martian seasons. The repetition helps distinguish seasonal effects … Continue reading

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MAVEN surveys the ionosphere of Mars

The ionosphere of Mars ‪plays a critical role in the loss of atmospheric gases and water to space. ‪MAVEN‬ has provided the first measurements of the composition of the ionosphere of Mars since Viking in 1976. Unlike Viking, which provided … Continue reading

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How does boiling water reshape Mars terrain?

At present, liquid water on Mars only exists in small quantities as a boiling liquid, and only during the warmest time of day in summer. Its role has therefore been considered insignificant until now. However, an international team including scientists … Continue reading

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MARCI weather report, April 18-24, 2016

Local dust dust storms were observed across many regions of the southern hemisphere this past week. Once again, dust lifting over Solis pushed northward and made conditions in Valles Marineris murky. The plateau of Syria and valleys nearby also had … Continue reading

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