时间:2025-04-26 13:02:05 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.
Pole vaulter claims his penis is not to blame2025-04-26 12:51
媒體人:對李鐵不拋棄不放棄 是對中國足球喪心病狂2025-04-26 12:31
強勢破門 !誇神淩波微步晃暈對手 送尤文四輪首勝2025-04-26 12:11
贏得艱難!囧叔取斑馬生涯200勝 替補絕殺+對手染紅2025-04-26 11:36
What brands need to know about virtual reality2025-04-26 11:26
官方:巴薩宣布哈維出任新帥 夢三傳奇回歸諾坎普2025-04-26 11:19
寶刀不老!法爾考連破巴薩皇馬 西甲進球效率王2025-04-26 10:37
穆伊缺席澳大利亞隊11月世預賽 有望回海港備戰中超2025-04-26 10:35
Fyvush Finkel, Emmy winner for 'Picket Fences,' dies at 932025-04-26 10:32
曝索帥曼聯執教生涯進入倒計時 最快下周被解雇2025-04-26 10:30
Michael Phelps says goodbye to the pool with Olympic gold2025-04-26 12:47
國足經過9個半小時飛行順利抵達迪拜 核酸檢測後赴沙迦2025-04-26 12:41
滄州官宣新主帥 :薩布利奇上任 曾三度擔任亞泰主教練2025-04-26 12:34
葡媒曝梅西將贏得金球獎 已獲得主辦方正式通知2025-04-26 12:15
Airbnb activates disaster response site for Louisiana flooding2025-04-26 12:07
葡媒曝梅西將贏得金球獎 已獲得主辦方正式通知2025-04-26 11:56
曼市德比身價 :總和接近20億歐元 丁丁格10超B費2025-04-26 11:35
曝足協杯河南隊球員出場違規 足協正研究或開罰單2025-04-26 11:33
This company is hiring someone just to drink all day2025-04-26 10:21
官方:巴雷拉與國米續約兩年 新合同2026年到期2025-04-26 10:18