(Press-News.org) An international team led by scientists from the University of Liège has observed, for the first time in the visible range, a glow on the night side of the planet Mars. These new observations provide a better understanding of the dynamics of the upper atmosphere of the Red Planet and its variations throughout the year.
A scientific team led by researchers from the Laboratory for Planetary and Atmospheric Physics (LPAP) at the University of Liège (BE) has just observed, for the first time, lights in the night sky over Mars using the UVIS-NOMAD instrument on board the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) satellite of the European Space Agency (ESA). This instrument is part of the NOMAD spectrometer suite developed at the Royal Institute for Space Aeronomy in Uccle, and tested and calibrated at the Liège Space Centre. It was inserted into circular Martian orbit at an altitude of 400 km in 2008.
Initially designed to map the ozone layer surrounding the planet in the ultraviolet, UVIS-NOMAD covers a spectral range extending from the near ultraviolet to red. For this purpose, the instrument is usually oriented towards the centre of the planet and observes sunlight reflected by the planetary surface and atmosphere. Based on a proposal from our laboratory, the instrument was oriented towards the limb of the planet in order to observe its atmosphere from the edge," explains Jean-Claude Gérard, planetologist at ULiège. Back in 2020, we were already able to detect the presence of a green emission between 40 and 150 km in altitude, present during the Martian day. This was due to the dissociation of the CO2 molecule, the main constituent of the atmosphere, by ultraviolet solar radiation".
A long journey for oxygen atoms
The TGO satellite, when observing the atmosphere at night, has just detected a new emission between 40 and 70 km altitude. This emission is due to the recombination of oxygen atoms created in the summer atmosphere and carried by the winds towards the high winter latitudes," explains Lauriane Soret, a researcher at LPAP. There, the atoms recombine on contact with CO2 to reform an O2 molecule in an excited state that relaxes and emits light in the visible range". This light emission is concentrated in the polar regions to the north and south, where the oxygen atoms converge in the downward branch of the gigantic trajectory from the opposite hemisphere. The intensity of the emission is high, in the visible range. This process seems to be reversed every half Martian year*, and the luminosity then changes hemisphere. A similar emission was analysed on Venus by the same team using images from the Venus Express satellite. On Venus, the atoms travel from the sunlit side to the dark side where they emit the same glow as on Mars.
ULiège researchers at the forefront
LPAP researchers played a key role in these observations. After highlighting the presence of a layer of green light surrounding the planet on the day side, they identified the night-time emission. The study will be continued during the TGO mission and will provide us with valuable information about the dynamics of the Martian upper atmosphere and its variations over the course of the Martian year," continues Lauriane Soret. We have noticed that another ultraviolet emission due to the nitric oxide (NO) molecule is also observed by UVIS in the same regions. Comparing the two emissions will enable us to refine the diagnosis and identify the processes involved.
The NO molecule also emits light when oxygen and nitrogen atoms recombine. As with the radiation from the O2 molecule, the atoms are formed in sunlight, transported by the winds to the other hemisphere and recombine during the downward motion in the polar regions.
These new observations are unexpected and interesting for future journeys to the Red Planet," enthuses Jean-Claude Gérard. The intensity of the night glow in the polar regions is such that simple and relatively inexpensive instruments in Martian orbit could map and monitor atmospheric flows. A future ESA mission could carry a camera for global imaging. In addition, the emission is sufficiently intense to be observable during the polar night by future astronauts in orbit or from the Martian ground'.
Benoit Hubert, researcher at LPAP, concludes: "Remote sensing of these emissions is an excellent tool for probing the composition and dynamics of Mars' upper atmosphere between 40 and 80 km. This region is inaccessible to direct methods of measuring composition using satellites''.
(* A Martian year lasts 687 Earth days.)
END
Glow in the visible range detected for the first time in the Martian night
A study by researchers at the University of Liège, using the UVIS-NOMAD instrument, has detected visible emission in the upper atmosphere of Mars
2023-11-09
[Attachments] See images for this press release:
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
UChicago's Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering advances lithium-metal batteries, paving the way for safer, more powerful devices
2023-11-09
The boom in phones, laptops and other personal devices over the last few decades has been made possible by the lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery, but as climate change demands more powerful batteries for electric vehicles and grid-scale renewable storage, lithium-ion technology might not be enough.
Lithium-metal batteries (LMBs) have theoretical capacities an order of magnitude greater than lithium-ion, but a more literal boom has stymied research for decades.
“A compounding challenge that further doomed the first wave of LMB commercialization in the late 1980s was their propensity to ...
Sylvester research shows how interactions between tumor genes and microenvironment influence treatment response in multiple myeloma
2023-11-09
MIAMI, FLORIDA (EMBARGOED UNTIL NOV. 9, 2023, AT 11 A.M. ET) – A multicenter study led by researchers at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine shows how interactions between tumor cells and immune components of the microenvironment can impact treatment responses and outcomes in patients newly diagnosed with multiple myeloma who undergo combination treatments that include targeted immunotherapy.
New drugs developed over the past two decades have dramatically improved survival rates, with “deep” and sustained treatment ...
Scientists caution against a reliance on mechanical devices to clear water bodies of plastic
2023-11-09
An international group of scientists has cautioned against reliance on mechanical cleanup devices as a means of addressing the plastic pollution crisis.
The researchers – comprising a number of the world’s foremost experts in plastic pollution – say they appreciate the clear and pressing need to tackle the millions of tonnes of waste that have already accumulated in the ocean and waterways.
However, they caution that plastic removal technologies used so far have shown varied efficiency in the amount of waste material they are able to collect, many have not been tested at all.
In fact, some have been shown to harm quantities of marine organisms – including ...
UTSA’s Jessica Eise wins funding to advance climate science advocacy research
2023-11-09
(San Antonio, November 9, 2023) — The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded Jessica Eise, an assistant professor of social and environmental challenges in the University of Texas at San Antonio Department of Communication, $425,000 for her project to explore how to create enduring change in environmental public behavior to support actions that will effectively address climate change and its impacts on society.
Despite four decades of climate change communication, the world has yet to see adequate public action and policymaker support to substantively address the challenge. Eise’s findings will empower ...
Women produce skin temperature data that are just as predictable as men
2023-11-09
Women produce physiological data that is just as predictable as men, at least when it comes to skin temperature. This might seem like common sense, but variations in body signals due to menstrual cycles, such as temperature, were used as an excuse to keep women out of clinical studies for decades.
The data for the finding was gathered from a wearable device to continuously monitor the skin temperature of 600 people, half female and half male, over six months.
The team found that there were more differences between any ...
Vanderbilt and Duke awarded Moore Foundation grant to improve oversight of AI technology in health care systems
2023-11-09
Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) and Duke University School of Medicine have been awarded a $1.25 million grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation for the project “Measuring Artificial Intelligence (AI) Maturity in Healthcare Organizations.”
Working with the Coalition for Health AI (CHAI) and the University of Iowa, a team of experts will leverage the grant to develop a maturity model framework. The project leads are Peter Embí, MD, MS, and Laurie Novak, ...
Doctoral degrees without borders
2023-11-09
Doctoral students at nine New York City area graduate engineering programs will soon be able to take courses at each other’s institutions without any additional tuition, as part of a new multi-school agreement announced today.
The Inter-University Engineering Doctoral Consortium (IUEDC), led by NYU Tandon School of Engineering, encourages Ph.D. students to complement their primary program by taking courses of interest offered at different schools, providing access to specialty instruction and expertise that may not be available at their home universities. Students should be ...
Scientists find 14 new transient objects in space by peering through the 'Christmas Tree Galaxy Cluster'
2023-11-09
An international team of scientists, led by University of Missouri’s Haojing Yan, used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to discover 14 new transient objects during their time-lapse study of galaxy cluster MACS0416 — located about 4.3 billion light years from Earth — which they’ve dubbed as the “Christmas Tree Galaxy Cluster.”
“Transients are objects in space, like individual stars, that appear to suddenly brighten by orders of magnitudes and then fade away,” said Yan, an associate professor in the Department ...
2023 AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Award winners named
2023-11-09
Stories about troubling aspects of science’s past as well as some hopeful signs for its future are among the winners of the 2023 AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Awards.
Presenter Adam Rutherford and producer Ilan Goodman won a Gold Award in the Audio category for a BBC series on the eugenics movement and its continuing repercussions in the modern age. Ashley Smart of Undark magazine won the Gold Award in the Science Reporting In-Depth category for a piece on the lingering impact of scientific racism, including the appropriation of legitimate genetics research for extremist ends.
On a more ...
Regenstrief experts will address national, global challenges at AMIA symposium
2023-11-09
INDIANAPOLIS -- Regenstrief Institute informaticians and other data experts will share their research insights and innovations from November 11-15 at the 2023 American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) Annual Symposium in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Two Regenstrief researchers also were part of the leadership team that organized and helped set the agenda for the conference, “Transforming Healthcare and Biomedicine for a Sustainable Future.”
AMIA’s Annual Symposium is the premier medical informatics event, presenting leading-edge scientific research and a wide array of scientific sessions. The symposium presents work from across the spectrum of the informatics ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
New perspective highlights urgent need for US physician strike regulations
An eye-opening year of extreme weather and climate
Scientists engineer substrates hostile to bacteria but friendly to cells
New tablet shows promise for the control and elimination of intestinal worms
Project to redesign clinical trials for neurologic conditions for underserved populations funded with $2.9M grant to UTHealth Houston
Depression – discovering faster which treatment will work best for which individual
Breakthrough study reveals unexpected cause of winter ozone pollution
nTIDE January 2025 Jobs Report: Encouraging signs in disability employment: A slow but positive trajectory
Generative AI: Uncovering its environmental and social costs
Lower access to air conditioning may increase need for emergency care for wildfire smoke exposure
Dangerous bacterial biofilms have a natural enemy
Food study launched examining bone health of women 60 years and older
CDC awards $1.25M to engineers retooling mine production and safety
Using AI to uncover hospital patients’ long COVID care needs
$1.9M NIH grant will allow researchers to explore how copper kills bacteria
New fossil discovery sheds light on the early evolution of animal nervous systems
A battle of rafts: How molecular dynamics in CAR T cells explain their cancer-killing behavior
Study shows how plant roots access deeper soils in search of water
Study reveals cost differences between Medicare Advantage and traditional Medicare patients in cancer drugs
‘What is that?’ UCalgary scientists explain white patch that appears near northern lights
How many children use Tik Tok against the rules? Most, study finds
Scientists find out why aphasia patients lose the ability to talk about the past and future
Tickling the nerves: Why crime content is popular
Intelligent fight: AI enhances cervical cancer detection
Breakthrough study reveals the secrets behind cordierite’s anomalous thermal expansion
Patient-reported influence of sociopolitical issues on post-Dobbs vasectomy decisions
Radon exposure and gestational diabetes
EMBARGOED UNTIL 1600 GMT, FRIDAY 10 JANUARY 2025: Northumbria space physicist honoured by Royal Astronomical Society
Medicare rules may reduce prescription steering
Red light linked to lowered risk of blood clots
[Press-News.org] Glow in the visible range detected for the first time in the Martian nightA study by researchers at the University of Liège, using the UVIS-NOMAD instrument, has detected visible emission in the upper atmosphere of Mars