NASA images show unprecedented ultraviolet view of Mars
Photos from MAVEN mission highlight atmospheric conditions on the Red Planet
New images from NASA's MAVEN spacecraft have given us an unprecedented view of the ultraviolet glow of the Martian atmosphere.
"MAVEN obtained hundreds of such images in recent months, giving some of the best high-resolution ultraviolet coverage of Mars ever obtained," said Nick Schneider of the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado Boulder, in a NASA release.
The pictures show the Red Planet's 'night glow.'
Night side images of the planet's southern hemisphere during spring capture its "night glow," a common planetary phenomenon where emissions from nitric oxide cause the sky to glow even in the absence of external light.
Mars' night glow is ultraviolet, which means the light exists outside the spectrum visible to the human eye, so NASA has rendered it in false colours to show what we would see with ultraviolet-sensitive eyes. Here, white means high values of nitric oxide emissions, black means low and green means medium.
High winds are affecting conditions on Mars.
Day side images of spring on Mars show high concentrations of atmospheric ozone in the southern hemisphere, rendered here in bright magenta.
Ozone accumulates on the planet's south pole during Mars' winter and disappears when water vapour from the rest of the planet spreads over the poles. The fact that it's still present in the spring shows that global winds are inhibiting the vapour's spread, NASA says.
Mars has cloudy afternoons over its volcanoes.
Here you can see the rapid afternoon cloud formation as the planet rotates over seven hours on July 9-10.
"MAVEN's elliptical orbit is just right," said Justin Deighan, of the University of Colorado Boulder, who led the observations. "It rises high enough to take a global picture, but still orbits fast enough to get multiple views as Mars rotates over the course of a day."
The dark spot near the top of the planet is Olympus Mons, the tallest volcano on Mars.
MAVEN is the 1st mission dedicated to studying Mars' upper atmosphere.
The images were taken using the Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph aboard the MAVEN spacecraft.
Shown below in a NASA artistic rendition, the spacecraft launched in 2013 to gather data on Mars' atmosphere and weather patterns to give "insight into the history of Mars' atmosphere and climate, liquid water, and planetary habitability."
