Mars is often referred to as the red planet, but for the first time ever, the European Space Agency’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter has captured one of its green glowing night skies. While it might look like something that would only be picked up by some keen instrumentation looking at some other light spectrum, it’s not. If you were there and it was a clear night, you would be seeing the exact same thing.
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00:00 Mars is often referred to as the red planet, but for the first time ever, the European
00:07 Space Agency's ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter has captured one of its green night skies.
00:13 This is that photo, and while it might look like something that would only be picked up
00:16 by some keen instrumentation looking at some other light spectrum, it's not.
00:20 In fact, if you were standing on Mars at the very moment that photo was taken, this is
00:24 likely what you would have seen.
00:25 So what's going on?
00:26 The phenomenon is often called night glow, and it happens after the sun spends the entire
00:31 day splitting molecules apart in what is called photodissociation.
00:34 When night falls, however, those loose atoms connect once again and release a portion of
00:38 their excess energy as photons.
00:41 This allows an atmosphere to produce its own light, and the process occurs on many other
00:44 planets, though on others it's invisible to the naked eye, either released in ultraviolet
00:49 or infrared wavelengths.
00:50 Which is why this is so exciting, as it's the first time night glow has been observed
00:54 on Mars in the visible spectrum.
00:56 Experts say identifying this type of phenomenon is critical to understanding the atmospheric
01:00 chemistry of the planet, allowing scientists to figure out its chemical makeup, circulation
01:05 and processes before ever setting human boots on the ground.
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