时间:2025-04-03 05:54:11 来源:网络整理编辑:娛樂
New ultraviolet images beamed from Mars by NASA's MAVEN spacecraft show huge swaths of clouds formin
New ultraviolet images beamed from Mars by NASA's MAVEN spacecraft show huge swaths of clouds forming above the red planet in incredible new detail. The imagery also reveals a never-before-observed glow on the planet's nightside.
These new discoveries are helping scientists understand the intricacies of how the planet's thin atmosphere functions.
SEE ALSO:Read 5 Haikus That Will Be Sent to Mars"MAVEN obtained hundreds of such images in recent months, giving some of the best high-resolution ultraviolet coverage of Mars ever obtained," Nick Schneider, MAVEN (short for Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution mission) scientist, said in a statement.
The spacecraft spotted the clouds forming above four huge Martian volcanoes in images collected on July 9 and 10, and they appear to form in much the same way as clouds form above mountains on Earth, NASA said.
"Mars’ tallest volcano, Olympus Mons, appears as a prominent dark region near the top of the images, with a small white cloud at the summit that grows during the day. Olympus Mons appears dark because the volcano rises up above much of the hazy atmosphere which makes the rest of the planet appear lighter," NASA said in the statement.
"Three more volcanoes appear in a diagonal row, with their cloud cover merging to span up to a thousand miles by the end of the day," NASA added.
This isn't the first time scientists have seen clouds on Mars. The Pathfinder mission snapped photos of clouds in the Martian sky in the 1990s, and an image from the Hubble Space Telescope earlier this year also shows clouds high above the red planet.
The new MAVEN images do break new ground in revealing Martian "nightglow," which is a "common planetary phenomenon in which the sky faintly glows even in the complete absence of external light," NASA said. Earth, for example, has nightglow.
Mars' glow comes from nitric oxide seen in ultraviolet wavelengths of light. Light from the sun breaks down molecules of carbon dioxide and nitrogen and winds spread them over Mars, which gradually brings the atoms down to lower altitudes on the planet's night side, according to NASA.
Nitrogen and oxygen then slam into one another, creating the glowing nitric oxide molecules on the night side of the planet.
While researchers had predicted that nightglow would exist on Mars, these MAVEN images mark the first time it has been documented.
MAVEN launched to Mars in 2013, arriving at the red planet in 2014. During the past two years, the spacecraft has beamed back numerous images from orbit and helped further refine NASA's understanding of how the thin Martian atmosphere works today.
The spacecraft also provided data that helped reveal how much of Mars' atmosphere was stripped away by the solar wind billions of years ago.
Photos show the Blue Cut fire blazing a path of destruction in California2025-04-03 05:46
'Satanic Hispanics' review: A mixed bag of trick2025-04-03 05:44
NYT's The Mini crossword answers for March 132025-04-03 05:33
一步之遙!武漢三鎮衝擊中超最長連勝 隻有衛冕冠軍能阻擋他們?2025-04-03 05:14
This 'sh*tpost' bot makes terrible memes so you don't have to2025-04-03 05:00
傅博 :未來搶分對球隊很重要 鄭智等老將三周後有望登場2025-04-03 05:00
徐新 :希望巴爾加斯盡快融入 海港足協杯目標爭冠2025-04-03 04:25
周二005 意甲 國際米蘭VS克雷莫納2025-04-03 04:20
Chinese gymnastics team horrifies crowd with human jump rope2025-04-03 04:14
梅西還是走吧 !姆巴佩就是不傳球,誰注意隊友反應 ,梅西最真實2025-04-03 04:13
Watch MTV's Video Music Awards 2016 livestream2025-04-03 05:45
深足主帥 :20天5場隊員非常辛苦 差不多飛了1.2萬公裏2025-04-03 05:43
本澤馬發文紀念皇馬首秀13周年 :13年來 ,你創造的曆史都在這2025-04-03 05:21
Apple to let iPhone users delete Safari, easily transition to Android2025-04-03 05:18
Hiddleswift finally followed each other on Instagram after 3 excruciating days2025-04-03 04:28
前途未卜 !申花21名隊員合同年底到期 眾多主力尚未談續約2025-04-03 04:24
Will Forte sends love to cast and crew of scrapped 'Coyote vs. Acme'2025-04-03 04:12
U.S. court dismisses most claims against OpenAI in copyright class action2025-04-03 04:07
U.S. government issues warning on McDonald's recalled wearable devices2025-04-03 03:34
I spent a week using AI tools in my daily life. Here's how it went.2025-04-03 03:32