For the first time ever, NASA’s Perseverance rover has seen an aurora on Mars in visible light. The sky is gently green, marking the first time an aurora has been seen from a planetary surface other than Earth.
According to scientists, the aurora happened on March 18, 2024, when super-energetic particles from the sun collided with the Martian atmosphere, causing a reaction that illuminated the entire night sky with a faint glow. Satellites in orbit have previously seen auroras on Mars in ultraviolet light, but not in visible light.
Three days prior, the sun had released a solar flare and a coronal mass ejection, which was a massive gas explosion.
