Earth's auroras are a glorious wonder, but our planet isn't the only place in the Solar System where these phenomena can be found.
have revealed that auroras tend to form near these crustal magnetic fields, which makes sense if magnetic field lines are required for particle acceleration.
Girazian and his team's work also takes into account the solar wind conditions. They analyzed data from thespacecraft, which has been collecting ultraviolet images of the red planet since 2014. It's also equipped with an instrument called the Solar Wind Ion Analyzer, which, unsurprisingly, analyzes the solar wind.
They compared data on the dynamic pressure of the solar wind, as well as the strength and angle of the interplanetary magnetic field, with ultraviolet data on the Martian auroras. They found that, outside the crustal magnetic field regions, the dynamic pressure of the solar wind plays a significant role in the detection frequency of auroras.However, the pressure of the solar wind seems to play little role in the brightness of said auroras.
Inside the crustal magnetic field regions, the orientation of the magnetic field and the solar wind seems to play a significant role in the formation of auroras on Mars. At certain orientations, the solar wind seems to be favorable to the magnetic reconnection events or particle acceleration required to produce the ultraviolet glow.
These results, the researchers said, reveal new information on how interactions with the solar wind can generate auroras on a planet stripped of its global magnetic field. This information can be used to help better understand the formation of discrete auroras on very different worlds."The database of discrete aurora observations we have from MAVEN is the first of its kind, allowing us to understand basic features of the aurora for the first time.
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