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lately last twelvemonth , Mars ' standard atmosphere briefly blew up to around three time its normal size without warning , go away scientist perplex . Now , research worker have discovered that the expanding upon was triggered by a rare gap , or " void , " in the charged particles that continuously pelt out ofthe sun , known as solar malarkey .
This sudden atmospheric " ballooning " has also happened on Earth at least once before and could go on again soon .
Mars is constantly being bombarded with high energy particles from solar wind.
On Dec. 26 , 2022,NASA ’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution ( MAVEN ) Orbiter — which has been circling the Red Planet ’s upper air since 2014 — witness Mars ' magnetized shield , or magnetosphere , swell outwards by " thousands of miles , " researchers write in astatement . This start the wispy Martian atmosphere to temporarily exposit and fill the excess quad .
After review the ballistic capsule ’s data , MAVEN scientists noticed that the atmospherical expansion coincided with a 100 - fold decline insolar idle words particleshitting the space vehicle .
" When we first see the datum , and how spectacular the drop in the solar wind was , it was almost unbelievable,“Jasper Halekas , a solar physicist at the University of Iowa who go the investigation into the rare event , read in the statement .
This animation shows how Mars' magnetosphere (yellow area) grew during the break in solar wind.
The researcherspresented their findingsDec . 11 at the ongoing American Geophysical Union ’s Fall Meeting , which is being held in San Francisco until Dec. 15 .
It was a " truly anomalous solar event,“Shannon Curry , the principal investigator of the MAVEN deputation , aver in the program line .
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usually , solar wind constantly bombards Mars and every other planet in thesolar system , which has caused Mars to recede most of its atmospheric state . Mars ' magnetosphere , or what is left of it , is always pushing against the solar winding , which diverts most of the cyclosis subatomic particle around the major planet .
However , when the solar wind dropped off there was nothing for the magnetosphere to push against , so it " billow " outwards , experts said in aNASA telecasting .
But as soon as the solar hint render to normal it shoved the magnetosphere back into place .
A exchangeable phenomenon pass off on Earth in 1999 , when the solar lead " nearly vaporize " for three sidereal day ( May 10 to 12 ) , which enabled our atmosphere to swell up to 100 times its normal volume before eventually returning to its previous size of it , consort toNASA . This event did not cause any noticeable short - term or long - term damage to our planet .
Researchers conceive these sudden disappearances of solar current of air are the result of rarified gaps in the streaming particles . These gaps hap because unusually immobile particles in solarwind sometimes bewitch up to or overtake the particles beforehand , leaving a infinite where solar wind would normally be .
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In a 2008 study published in the journalAstronomy & Astrophysics , researchers linked the 1999 atmospheric expansion upshot on Earth to a expectant " coronal hole , " or gap in the solar surface , that appeared shortly before our satellite ’s atmosphere well . Coronal golf hole have weaker magnetic fields than the rest of the sun , which enable solar flatus to race out of the sun quicker than normal .
Coronal holes could become more unwashed over the next few years as the sun make the explosive summit of its or so 11 - year cycle of activity , have intercourse as thesolar level best . We are already starting to see evidence of this .
