News Planetary Science

Martian aurora, high-altitude dust clouds surprise scientists

MAVEN mission data provide insights, provoke questions about Red Planet

Maven probe

BRING TO LIGHT  An ultraviolet camera on the MAVEN probe, illustrated, captures the eerie glow from a Martian aurora, similar to the northern lights on Earth.

Univ. of Colorado

By Christopher Crockett

- More than 2 years ago

Martian auroras! Mystery dust clouds! Just a few months into its mission, NASA’s newest Mars orbiter is finding an assortment of oddities in the Martian atmosphere, researchers report March 18 at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in The Woodlands, Texas.