The MAVEN mission has been revealing ultraviolet portraits of the Red Planet, offering fresh perspectives on Mars’ atmosphere for scientists and space enthusiasts in North America. These ultraviolet views illuminate aspects of the planet that lie beyond the reach of the naked eye, helping researchers piece together how Mars lost most of its atmosphere over billions of years. (Source: NASA)
Captured during two distinct periods in 2022 and 2023, the images reflect Mars at opposite parts of its orbit around the Sun. The instrument known as the Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph (IUVS) sensors light in the 110 to 340-nanometer range, wavelengths invisible to human sight. To translate these signals into something we can interpret, the data were mapped into a visible spectrum where longer wavelengths appear red and shorter wavelengths appear blue. This color mapping allows viewers to identify subtle shifts in the Martian environment across seasons and hemispheres. (NASA)
The right-hand image comes from the southern hemisphere’s summer in July 2022, when Mars traveled closer to the Sun. In this view, Argyre Basin — one of the planet’s deepest craters — looks hazy with pale pink coloring at the lower left, while the Mariner Valley’s grand canyons dominate the upper left with a yellow-brown haze that hints at evolving atmospheric conditions. The south polar glacier shows white at the bottom, occupying a smaller area due to the seasonal warmth. This depiction underscores how atmospheric dynamics interact with surface geography on Mars. (NASA)
On the left, the northern-hemisphere image was taken in January 2023 after Mars reached the farthest point from the Sun in its elliptical orbit. The Arctic-like rapid seasonal changes produce abundant white cloud cover, which can obscure surface features. The Mariner Valley remains prominent in brown tones at the lower left, with numerous impact craters adding texture to the scene. Purple regions in the image reveal ozone, a gas formed during the long polar nights of the northern winter. As spring approaches, ozone is expected to break down through reactions with water vapor, a process that occurs at relatively low atmospheric altitudes at that time of year. (NASA)
MAVEN — Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN — entered Mars orbit in 2014. The mission’s name translates to an exploration of how the Martian atmosphere and volatile components evolve over time, with the central aim of understanding why Mars lost much of its original atmosphere. The wealth of ultraviolet data gathered by MAVEN informs atmospheric models, guiding scientists as they compare Mars with Earth and other terrestrial planets. (NASA)
In a broader context, discoveries tied to ancient artifacts and historical objects also illuminate the human impulse to explore and understand the past. For instance, researchers have identified an ancient Roman amphora etched with poems by Virgil in Córdoba, illustrating how cultures leave traces that cross millennia, much as space missions leave traces in the data they collect for future generations. (Cultural records)