Scientists spot green light in Mars atmosphere: 1st such phenomenon on planet beyond Earth

In a first such phenomenon on a planet beyond Earth, the European Space Agency's Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) has discovered a green light in Mars' atmosphere. A similar glow is sometimes seen on the Earth's limb by astronauts on the space station. According to the scientists, the emissions are formed due to the collisions between atmospheric molecules and charged particles that are racing away from the sun.

On Earth, the collision is influenced by its strong magnetic field, pulling the particles down to the poles. However, as Mars does not have a magnetic field, scientists reported that the green light is produced as the oxygen atoms are raised to a higher level where they fall back to the resting state. As per a paper published in the journal 'Nature Astronomy', there are certain attitudes that are dependent on the pressure of Carbon dioxide (CO2). According to the co-principal investigator on Nomad's ultraviolet and visible spectrometer Dr. Manish Patel, the thickness of the atmosphere can be identified based on the altitudes from where emission is coming from. 

Dr. Patel further called the green light emission on Mars a "nice result" and said that after studying the science clearly before going to Mars, they got this result. According to him, the green light is different from the classic aurora like the Northern lights and Southern lights. 

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Mars had a giant ring: Report 

As per a report on June 6, Mars had a giant ring that was later squashed to form a single oddly-shaped moon/moons. The Red Planet has two small and uneven moons-- Phobos and Deimos. While Deimos orbits farther away, Phobos orbits closer to Mars and follows the line of the planet's equator. According to scientists, one of the giant mystery moons knocked Diemos into its current ring. Reportedly, as per theory, the mystery moon then vanished into its ring form, creating a remnant of that ring which is now called Phobos. The scientists have suspected that several generations of moons would have gone through the 'ring-moon-ring' cycle, which will repeat, and so on and so forth.

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Read: Experts fear Mars rock samples might bring alien microbes to Earth

(Image Credits: NASA/Representative image)