Aurorae on Mars
Date: 24 February 2009
Copyright: ESA
Animation showing the location of nightside aurorae on Mars.
These aurorae, observed to date only by Mars Express, occur over areas on Mars characterised by a strong crustal magnetic field (see related video in the right-hand menu). The aurorae are illustrated in blue, and the magnetic field strength is illustrated by the height of the blue features.
Related publications (see right-hand menu):
Bertaux, J.-L. et al., "Discovery of an aurora on Mars", Nature 435, 790-794, doi:10.1038/nature03603, 9 June 2005
Leblanc, F. et al., "Origins of the Martian aurora observed by Spectroscopy for Investigation of Characteristics of the Atmosphere of Mars (SPICAM) on board Mars Express", J. Geophys. Res., 111, A09313, doi:10.1029/2006JA011763, 22 September 2006
Leblanc, F. et al., "Observations of aurorae by SPICAM ultraviolet spectrograph on board Mars Express: Simultaneous ASPERA-3 and MARSIS measurements", J. Geophys. Res., 113, A08311, doi:10.1029/2008JA013033, 22 August 2008
