This image shows an artist’s impression of what night light would look like to astronauts in the winter polar regions of Mars at night. The green glow occurs when oxygen atoms combine to form oxygen molecules higher up in the atmosphere.
This simulated view was created using an actual dark image of the Martian surface from the panoramic camera on NASA’s Opportunity rover and a synthetic nightglow that corresponds to the actual color of the oxygen emissions. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell University/Arizona State University – EW Knutsen
ESA’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter discovered green nightglow in the Martian atmosphere, providing important data on atmospheric processes and potential illumination for future Mars missions. This phenomenon, unlike the aurora borealis, represents a major advance in our understanding. Mars.
When future astronauts explore the polar regions of Mars, they will see a green glow illuminating the night sky. ESA’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) mission has detected visible nightglow in the Martian atmosphere for the first time.
Under clear skies, its glow could be bright enough for humans to see up close and for the rover to travel into dark nights. Nocturnal light has also been observed on Earth. This was expected on Mars, but it had never been observed in visible light before.
night light of mars
Atmospheric nightglow occurs about 50 kilometers (about 30 miles) above the planet’s surface when two oxygen atoms combine to form an oxygen molecule.
Oxygen atoms have continued on their journey. Oxygen atoms are formed on the dayside of Mars when sunlight energizes and breaks down carbon dioxide molecules. When the oxygen atoms move to the night side and stop being excited by the sun, they reassemble and emit light at lower altitudes.
This animation depicts the process thought to be responsible for Mars’ nocturnal glow. When exposed to the sun’s ultraviolet light at altitudes above 70 km, carbon dioxide molecules, the main constituent of Mars’ atmosphere, break down into carbon monoxide and oxygen atoms. These oxygen atoms (depicted as red spheres) are transported by giant Hadley cells. This cell is characterized by an ascending branch above the daytime summer pole and a descending branch above the winter pole in the night hemisphere. Oxygen atoms recombine into molecular oxygen in the descending branch of the Hadley cell at an altitude of 30-50 km and emit infrared radiation. Credit: ESA
“This release is due to the recombination of oxygen atoms produced in the summer atmosphere and transported by winds to high latitudes in winter, at altitudes between 40 and 60 km in the Martian atmosphere,” said researchers from the Atmosphere and Planetary Institute. Laurian Solet explains.physicist at the University of Liege in Belgium and part of the team that announced the discovery natural astronomy.
Noctilucent lighting could be bright enough to illuminate a future as bright as moonlit clouds on Earth.
“These observations are unexpected and interesting for future trips to Mars,” says Jean-Claude Gerard, lead author of the new study and a planetary scientist at the University of Liège.
![Airglow observed from the International Space Station](https://scitechdaily.com/images/Airglow-Observed-From-the-International-Space-Station-777x583.jpg 777w,https://scitechdaily.com/images/Airglow-Observed-From-the-International-Space-Station-400x300.jpg 400w,https://scitechdaily.com/images/Airglow-Observed-From-the-International-Space-Station-768x576.jpg 768w,https://scitechdaily.com/images/Airglow-Observed-From-the-International-Space-Station.jpg 1024w)
Airglow occurs in Earth’s atmosphere when sunlight interacts with atoms and molecules in the atmosphere. In this image taken by astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) in 2011, a green band of oxygen glow can be seen above the curve of the Earth. Part of North Africa is visible on the surface, with night lights shining along the Nile River and its delta. Credit: NASA
Please follow the green shining path
The international scientific team was intrigued by something. previous discovery It was created using Mars Express, which observed nightglow in infrared wavelengths 10 years ago. The Trace Gas Orbiter detected glowing green oxygen atoms in the dayside sky of Mars in 2020. This is the first time that daylight emission has been observed around a planet other than Earth.
These atoms also migrate to the night side and then recombine at lower altitudes, resulting in the visible night glow detected in a new study published today.
![ExoMars gas probe tracks daylight oxygen on Mars](https://scitechdaily.com/images/ExoMars-Trace-Gas-Orbiter-Spots-Daylight-Green-Oxygen-at-Mars-Crop-777x437.jpg 777w,https://scitechdaily.com/images/ExoMars-Trace-Gas-Orbiter-Spots-Daylight-Green-Oxygen-at-Mars-Crop-400x225.jpg 400w,https://scitechdaily.com/images/ExoMars-Trace-Gas-Orbiter-Spots-Daylight-Green-Oxygen-at-Mars-Crop-768x432.jpg 768w,https://scitechdaily.com/images/ExoMars-Trace-Gas-Orbiter-Spots-Daylight-Green-Oxygen-at-Mars-Crop-1536x864.jpg 1536w,https://scitechdaily.com/images/ExoMars-Trace-Gas-Orbiter-Spots-Daylight-Green-Oxygen-at-Mars-Crop-2048x1152.jpg 2048w,https://scitechdaily.com/images/ExoMars-Trace-Gas-Orbiter-Spots-Daylight-Green-Oxygen-at-Mars-Crop-180x101.jpg 180w,https://scitechdaily.com/images/ExoMars-Trace-Gas-Orbiter-Spots-Daylight-Green-Oxygen-at-Mars-Crop-260x146.jpg 260w,https://scitechdaily.com/images/ExoMars-Trace-Gas-Orbiter-Spots-Daylight-Green-Oxygen-at-Mars-Crop-373x210.jpg 373w,https://scitechdaily.com/images/ExoMars-Trace-Gas-Orbiter-Spots-Daylight-Green-Oxygen-at-Mars-Crop-120x67.jpg 120w)
ESA artist impressions Exomars trace gas orbiter Detect the green glow of oxygen in the Martian atmosphere. This luminescence, discovered on the dayside of Mars, is similar to the night glow seen around Earth’s atmosphere from space. Credit: ESA
Orbiting around Mars at an altitude of 400 km, TGO was able to monitor the night side of Mars using its ultraviolet-visible channels. NOMAD musical instruments. The instrument covers a spectral range from near-ultraviolet to red light and was positioned toward the edge of the Red Planet to better observe the upper atmosphere.
The NOMAD experiment is led by the Royal Belgian Institute for Astronautics and Aeronautics, in collaboration with teams from Spain (IAA-CSIC), Italy (INAF-IAPS), the United Kingdom (Open University) and others.
scientific value
Nocturnal light serves to track atmospheric processes. This provides a wealth of information not only about oxygen concentrations, but also about the composition and dynamics of atmospheric regions that are difficult to measure. It can also reveal how energy is stored by both sunlight and the solar wind, streams of charged particles emanating from our star.
![Milky Way and Earth's airglow seen from the space station](https://scitechdaily.com/images/Milky-Way-and-Earths-Airglow-From-Space-Station-777x517.jpg 777w,https://scitechdaily.com/images/Milky-Way-and-Earths-Airglow-From-Space-Station-400x266.jpg 400w,https://scitechdaily.com/images/Milky-Way-and-Earths-Airglow-From-Space-Station-768x511.jpg 768w,https://scitechdaily.com/images/Milky-Way-and-Earths-Airglow-From-Space-Station-1536x1022.jpg 1536w,https://scitechdaily.com/images/Milky-Way-and-Earths-Airglow-From-Space-Station.jpg 1600w)
A snapshot from space of the Milky Way and Earth posing together beyond the International Space Station. In this scene, the Milky Way extends beneath the curve of Earth’s edge, and faint green airglow is also recorded. The galaxy’s central bulge appears with a starry sky cut by dark rifts of obscuring interstellar dust. This photo was taken by NASA astronaut Scott Kelly during a one-year space mission in 2015.Credit: NASA/Scott Kelly
Understanding the properties of Mars’ atmosphere is not only of scientific interest, but also important for missions to the Martian surface. For example, the density of the atmosphere directly affects the drag experienced by orbiting satellites and the parachutes used to deliver the probe to the surface of Mars.
Noctilucent vs aurora
Nocturnal lights are also observed on Earth, but should not be confused with the aurora borealis. Auroras are just one of the ways a planet’s atmosphere glows.
an aurora occurs, on mars Just like on Earth, high-energy electrons from the sun bombard the upper atmosphere. They vary over space and time, whereas nocturnal light is more uniform. Both nightglows and auroras exhibit a wide range of colors, depending on which atmospheric gases are most abundant at different altitudes.
Our planet’s green nightglow is so faint that it is best seen from an “edge-on” perspective. lots of great images photographed by an astronaut international space station.
Time-lapse video by european space agency A photo taken by astronaut Tim Peake during his six-month Principia mission aboard the International Space Station. A British astronaut commented on the time-lapse: “‘Aurora Rise’ seen from the International Space Station – at the end can he see the two satellites? A time lapse of his video created from images taken 1 second apart, he plays it 25 times faster Credit: ESA/NASA
Reference: “Observation of Mars O”2 “Visible nightglow from the NOMAD spectrometer on board the Trace Gas Orbiter” J.-C. Gerard, L. Sore, IR Thomas, B. Ristic, Y. Willame, C. Despies, AC Vanderle, F. Darden, B. Hubert, JP Mason, MR Patel, MA Lopez Valverde, November 9, 2023. natural astronomy.
DOI: 10.1038/s41550-023-02104-8