The UAE’s Hope spacecraft has made a landmark discovery of a new type of aurora on Mars.
Scientists with the mission are calling it the "sinuous discrete aurora", a huge, worm-like aurora that extends halfway around the planet.
Aurorae are colourful lights that appear on a planet when solar activity disturbs its atmosphere.
On Earth, the aurora borealis and aurora polaris – known as northern lights – happens when protons and electrons from solar wind hit particles in the atmosphere, causing colourful lights in the sky.
On Mars, however, because of its lack of a global magnetic field and localised crustal magnetic fields in the southern hemisphere, there are three types of aurorae – proton, diffuse and discrete.
But the latest discovery has left scientists puzzled, creating new questions about the interactions between Mars’ atmosphere, the planet’s magnetic fields and the solar wind.
“When we first imaged Mars’ discrete aurora shortly after the Hope probe’s arrival at Mars in 2021, we knew we had unveiled new potential to make observations never before possible on this scale, and we took the decision to increase our focus on these auroras,” said Hessa Al Matroushi, science lead at the Emirates Mars Mission.
“We can obtain nearly whole-disc, synoptic snapshots of the atmosphere to investigate atmospheric phenomena and interactions. It means we are seeing discrete auroral effects on a massive scale and in ways we never anticipated.”
In June, the spacecraft captured the most detailed observations of the discrete aurora in Mars’ night side atmosphere.
Aurorae in Mars’ night side atmosphere are extremely rare to capture. However, Hope has a higher possibility of imaging the phenomenon than any other spacecraft because of its unique elliptical orbit around the planet. It observes the night side on each of its 55-hour orbits of the planet.
What is the new aurora?
The sinuous discrete aurora is made up of long worm-like streaks of energised electron emissions in the upper atmosphere.
These extend many thousands of kilometres, stretching from the day side into the night side of Mars.
The aurora was imaged when the planet was experiencing the effects of a solar storm, which caused a more turbulent stream of solar wind electrons than usual. This allowed Hope to capture the brightest and most extensive aurora it has observed so far.
Dr Rob Lillis, a Hope mission team member at the University of California, Berkeley, described the discovery. "The sinuous discrete aurora was a shocking discovery that in many ways has us scratching our heads and going back to the drawing board," he said.
“We have ideas but no solid explanation for why we are observing intense aurora of this shape and at planetary scales.
“We now have the opportunity to re-examine prior observations of Mars by missions such as Maven and Mars Express to search for signatures that could flesh out Hope’s new observations and perhaps help us try and unpick quite what is happening here.”
The spacecraft arrived at Mars' orbit on February 9, 2021 to study the planet's dynamic weather conditions and atmosphere.
Since then, thousands of science images have been released, as well as data that is available free of charge online.
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Esperance de Tunis 1 Guadalajara 1
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Guadalajara: Sandoval 5’
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From Dubai-based clinical psychologist Daniella Salazar:
1. Solitary Play: This is where Infants and toddlers start to play on their own without seeming to notice the people around them. This is the beginning of play.
2. Onlooker play: This occurs where the toddler enjoys watching other people play. There doesn’t necessarily need to be any effort to begin play. They are learning how to imitate behaviours from others. This type of play may also appear in children who are more shy and introverted.
3. Parallel Play: This generally starts when children begin playing side-by-side without any interaction. Even though they aren’t physically interacting they are paying attention to each other. This is the beginning of the desire to be with other children.
4. Associative Play: At around age four or five, children become more interested in each other than in toys and begin to interact more. In this stage children start asking questions and talking about the different activities they are engaging in. They realise they have similar goals in play such as building a tower or playing with cars.
5. Social Play: In this stage children are starting to socialise more. They begin to share ideas and follow certain rules in a game. They slowly learn the definition of teamwork. They get to engage in basic social skills and interests begin to lead social interactions.
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Sheikh Dhiyab bin Isa (ruled 1761-1793) Built Qasr Al Hosn as a watchtower to guard over the only freshwater well on Abu Dhabi island.
Sheikh Shakhbut bin Dhiyab (ruled 1793-1816) Expanded the tower into a small fort and transferred his ruling place of residence from Liwa Oasis to the fort on the island.
Sheikh Tahnoon bin Shakhbut (ruled 1818-1833) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further as Abu Dhabi grew from a small village of palm huts to a town of more than 5,000 inhabitants.
Sheikh Khalifa bin Shakhbut (ruled 1833-1845) Repaired and fortified the fort.
Sheikh Saeed bin Tahnoon (ruled 1845-1855) Turned Qasr Al Hosn into a strong two-storied structure.
Sheikh Zayed bin Khalifa (ruled 1855-1909) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further to reflect the emirate's increasing prominence.
Sheikh Shakhbut bin Sultan (ruled 1928-1966) Renovated and enlarged Qasr Al Hosn, adding a decorative arch and two new villas.
Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan (ruled 1966-2004) Moved the royal residence to Al Manhal palace and kept his diwan at Qasr Al Hosn.
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Trans fat is typically found in fried and baked goods, but you may be consuming more than you think.
Powdered coffee creamer, microwave popcorn and virtually anything processed with a crust is likely to contain it, as this guide from Mayo Clinic outlines:
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Volunteers of all ages can submit DNA samples at centres across Abu Dhabi, including: Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (Adnec), Biogenix Labs in Masdar City, NMC Royal Hospital in Khalifa City, NMC Royal Medical Centre, Abu Dhabi, NMC Royal Women's Hospital, Bareen International Hospital, Al Towayya in Al Ain, NMC Specialty Hospital, Al Ain
