Using data gathered by NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft, a team of researchers from Ume University and the Swedish Institute of Space Physics in Kiruna have discovered jet streams in the magnetosheath of Mars. This is the first time a jet of this kind has been discovered on a planet other than Earth’s magnetosphere. The outcomes are distributed in the journal Science Advances.
A mass of moving plasma in the magnetosheath is called a magnetosheath jet. It is recognized by being quicker or denser than its environmental elements, at times both quicker and denser. The region of space where a planet is forced to revolve by the solar wind is called the magnetosphere.
“Fly streams in magnetosheaths have been seen close to Earth for quite some time, and we were truly curious if they would be found somewhere else,” says Herbert Gunell, academic partner at Ume College, who drove the review.
Since 2014, NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft has been studying the Martian atmosphere and how it interacts with the solar wind.
Place of observation Places of the Expert Shuttle on Mars The sun-based orbital (MSO) arranges during the three perceptions. Positions of the spacecraft as projected onto the (A) x-y, (B) x-z, and (C) y-z planes D) The positions of the spacecraft in a cylindrical coordinate system, where the distance from the MSO x axis is represented by the vertical axis. In the plane of each panel, the arrows indicate the direction of the velocity component. In order to ensure that each arrow has the same length, the velocity is normalized. In comparison to the other components, the one in the y-z plane (C) is significantly smaller. The run and strong lines show a model bow shock (27) for two unique boundary sets. The shuttle moves around 100 to 200 km during a fly perception, which is more modest than the image that denotes the situations in the figure. Credit: Science Advances (2023). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adg5703.
“Before MAVEN, we only had satellites with instruments that were fast enough to detect jets around the Earth. Due to the significant differences between the two planets, it was not immediately apparent that we would find them on Mars. The magnetosheath on Mars, for instance, is significantly smaller than that on Earth due to its smaller size and the absence of a global magnetic field. Notwithstanding these distinctions, we presently realize that Mars likewise has magnetosheath jets,” says Herbert Gunell.
“We have previously seen that magnetosheath jets produce waves and that they can travel through the whole magnetosheath and into the area of more grounded attractive fields further down. It will be exciting to learn more about them and how they interact with the solar wind on Mars now that we have discovered that they exist there.”
More information: Herbert Gunell et al, Magnetosheath jets at Mars, Science Advances (2023). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adg5703
