Rare Solar Event Causes Dramatic Expansion of Mars' Atmosphere

NASA's MAVEN spacecraft records significant drop in solar wind, providing valuable insights into Mars' interaction with solar phenomena and atmospheric loss.

NASA's MAVEN spacecraft observed a rare solar event in December 2022 that caused the solar wind to 'disappear', resulting in a significant expansion of Mars' atmosphere and magnetosphere.
The solar wind, a stream of charged particles from the Sun, dropped significantly in density, causing the Martian atmosphere to expand by thousands of kilometers.
The event provides valuable insights into the interaction between Mars and solar phenomena, and could help understand the physics behind water and atmospheric loss on Mars.
This is the first time such a phenomenon has been observed by MAVEN, and the data could be crucial for understanding extreme solar events as the Sun moves towards its solar maximum.
The findings could also have implications for understanding Earth-like planets outside our solar system and how they interact with their host stars.

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