NASA recorded the highest radiation spike in its 12-year history on Mars.
NASA announced that Coronal Mass Ejections, also known as solar flares, which caused the Northern Lights on Earth, hit Mars on Monday, creating auroras on the Red Planet.
The CMEs are happening more often now because the sun is hitting its peak of solar activity this year, wrapping up an 11-year cycle.
CMEs interact with Earth’s magnetic field, creating the northern lights or aurora borealis. They can also lead to communication and radio blackouts on our planet.
Last month, this activity peaked, and millions of people in Europe and North America got to see the light show.
According to NASA, Mars rovers and orbiters showed researchers and scientists some amazing solar activity in May, with the peak happening on May 20.
“The flare sent X-rays and gamma rays toward Mars, and then a coronal mass ejection followed, launching charged particles,” the US agency said.
“If astronauts had been standing next to NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover at that time, they would have gotten a radiation dose of 8,100 micrograys, which is about the same as 30 chest X-rays,” NASA said.
“Even though it wasn’t deadly, it was the biggest spike recorded by Curiosity’s Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD) since the rover touched down 12 years ago.”
NASA’s orbiter that studies Mars’ atmosphere has spotted another impact of recent solar activity.
The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft gave researchers a look at “glowing auroras over the planet.” It also showed that “the way these auroras happen is different from those on Earth.”
This was the biggest activity the MAVEN mission has ever seen.