Mars Archives

September 23, 2020September 23, 2020 by David Dickinson

Our Complete Guide to Mars Opposition Season 2020

Grab your telescope: when it comes to astronomy, 2020 saved the best for last, with a fine opposition season for the planet Mars. In 2020, the Red Planet reaches opposition next month on October 13th.

September 16, 2020September 16, 2020 by Nancy Atkinson

Sunrises Across the Solar System

Saturn’s upper atmosphere. Processed using calibrated narrow-angle near-infrared (CB3) and ultraviolet (UV3) and wide-angle red, green, and violet filtered images of Saturn taken by Cassini on November 17 2007. NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI/CICLOPS/Kevin M. Gill.

Scientists have learned a lot about the atmospheres on various worlds in our Solar System simply from planetary sunrises or sunsets. Sunlight streaming through the haze of an atmosphere can be separated into its component colors to create spectra, just as prisms do with sunlight. From the spectra, astronomers can interpret the measurements of light to reveal the chemical makeup of an atmosphere.

September 9, 2020September 9, 2020 by Nancy Atkinson

Can you tell the difference between California, Venus, Titan and Mars? Hint: California is the one with buildings.

Californians woke up to an alien-looking sky this morning, Wednesday, September 9, 2020.

August 26, 2020August 26, 2020 by Nancy Atkinson

It Rained So Hard on Ancient Mars that Craters Filled Up and Overflowed

Arima twins topography. This colour-coded overhead view is based on an ESA Mars Express High-Resolution Stereo Camera digital terrain model of the Thaumasia Planum region on Mars at approximately 17°S / 296°E. The image was taken during orbit 11467 on 4 January 2013. The colour coding reveals the relative depth of the craters, in particular the depths of their central pits, with the left-hand crater penetrating deeper than the right (Arima crater). Copyright: ESA/DLR/FU-Berlin-G.Neukum

Figuring out the ancient climate on Mars has been tricky. While evidence gathered from orbit and on the surface seems to indicate there must have been a lot more water on Mars early in its history, questions remain on how much water and in what form.

A new study has now quantified the amount of precipitation needed to create many of the landforms visible today on Mars surface. The paper, published in the journal Geology says there was enough rainfall and snowmelt to fill lakebeds and river valleys 3.5 to 4 billion years ago on the Red Planet, and that precip must have occurred worldwide.

August 11, 2020August 11, 2020 by Evan Gough

Lava Tubes on the Moon and Mars are Really, Really Big. Big Enough to Fit an Entire Planetary Base

The first lava tube skylight discovered on the moon. Image credit: JAXA/SELENE

Could lava tubes on the Moon and Mars play a role in establishing a human presence on those worlds? Possibly, according to a team of researchers. Their new study shows that lunar and Martian lava tubes might be enormous, and easily large enough to accommodate a base.

August 11, 2020August 14, 2020 by Nancy Atkinson

The Martian Sky Pulses in Ultraviolet Every Night

This is an image of the ultraviolet “nightglow” in the Martian atmosphere. Green and white false colors represent the intensity of ultraviolet light, with white being the brightest. The nightglow was measured at about 70 kilometers (approximately 40 miles) altitude by the Imaging UltraViolet Spectrograph instrument on NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft. A simulated view of the Mars globe is added digitally for context. The image shows an intense brightening in Mars’ nightside atmosphere. The brightenings occur regularly after sunset on Martian evenings during fall and winter seasons, and fade by midnight. The brightening is caused by increased downwards winds which enhance the chemical reaction creating nitric oxide which causes the glow. Credits: NASA/MAVEN/Goddard Space Flight Center/CU/LASP

There’s a surprising phenomenon taking place in Mars’ atmosphere: during the spring and fall seasons on the Red Planet, large areas of the sky pulse in ultraviolet light, exactly three times every night.

August 6, 2020August 6, 2020 by Evan Gough

Martian Features Were Carved by Glaciers, not Flowing Rivers

Orbiters are giving us a chance to study the surface of Mars closely, and some of the features that pop to prominence are dry river channels. There are over 10,000 of them. But a new study suggests that glaciers on ancient Mars are responsible for many of them.

According to the study, those glaciers and the water flowing under them are resonsible for carving out some of those riverbeds, rather than free-flowing rivers.

August 5, 2020August 5, 2020 by Evan Gough

There’s One Cloud on Mars That’s Over 1800 km Long

A mysteriously long, thin cloud has again appeared over the 20-km high Arsia Mons volcano on Mars. Image Credit: ESA/GCP/UPV/EHU Bilbao

Mars’ massive cloud is back.

Every year during Mars’ summer solstice, a cloud of water ice forms on the leeward side of Arsia Mons, one of Mars’ largest extinct volcanoes. The cloud can grow to be up to 1800 km (1120 miles) long. It forms each morning, then disappears the same day, only to reappear the next morning. Researchers have named it the Arsia Mons Elongated Cloud (AMEC).

August 3, 2020August 3, 2020 by Matt Williams

Perseverance Went Into Safe Mode Shortly After Launch, But it’s Fine

Artist's impression of the Perseverance rover on Mars. Credit: NASA-JPL

On Thursday, July 30th, NASA launched the most sophisticated Mars rover ever built atop a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.This mission includes the Perseverance rover (Curiosity‘s sister vehicle) and the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter, both of which are being flown on a seven-month journey by the Mars 2020 spacecraft.

In a minor hiccup, the Mars 2020 spacecraft entered safe mode a few hours after launch, apparently due to a temperature anomaly. This was the conclusion reached by mission controllers after receiving telemetry data on the spacecraft via the NASA Deep Space Network. Luckily, the spacecraft is working nominally and is on its way toward Mars to join in the search for evidence of past (and present) life!

July 30, 2020July 30, 2020 by Nancy Atkinson

Perseverance Rover Rumbles Off the Launchpad to Mars

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover onboard launches from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Thursday, July 30, 2020, from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Perseverance rover is part of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program, a long-term effort of robotic exploration of the Red Planet. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover is now successfully on its journey to Mars, launching from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 7:50 am EDT (1150 GMT). Just minutes before the Atlas 5 rocket rumbled off the launchpad, a 2.9 magnitude earthquake rumbled out in California, giving a minor shake to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, the Control Center for the rover.