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Research Shows How Auroras Form on Mars Without Global Magnetic Field

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A team of scientists at the University of Iowa, US, have discovered how discrete auroras form on Mars in the absence of a global magnetic field. It has been reported that discrete auroras on the Red Planet are governed by the localised interaction between the solar wind and magnetic fields generated by the crust on Mars – unlike Earth, where auroras appear when particles from the solar wind collide with Earth’s magnetosphere.
Auroras are natural light displays, forming dynamic patterns of brilliant lights in the Earth’s sky because of disturbances in the magnetosphere caused by the solar wind — jet of charged particles coming from the Sun. The magnetosphere is an area of space controlled by a planet’s magnetic field. Except Mercury, almost all planets in the solar system have auroras. However, things get a little interesting on Mars.

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