Space Photos of the Week: Chaotic, Gassy Mars

Happy Independence Day from space! These cosmic fireworks are located at the star system Eta Carinae. It’s hard to get bleacher seats to this particular show—it’s 7,500 light years away after all— so we brought the show to you. The gas and dust around this star was blown outwards into space after a large energetic burst around 1840. The result is this colorful sideways hourglass.In 1994, pieces of the comet Shoemaker Levy spent a week crashing into Jupiter’s atmosphere and the collisions left dark scars. This was a very rare treat for astronomers and it changed much of their understanding of the outer solar system. Impacts like these were thought not to occur much anymore, but this comet-planet throwdown helped scientists learn more about the environment of the outer solar system. Because of this surprise event, scientists here on Earth realized they needed to have their own strategy for planetary protection.Forty five million light years away is an object called Messier 98. This galaxy contains around one trillion stars and, because it’s so rich in cosmic dust and hydrogen gas, it’s producing new stars very quickly.Earth has dune fields, Mars has dune fields too. This photo shows a section of a region called Olympia Undae located in the northern pole region of Mars, and it’s the largest dune field on the entire planet. Scientists have detected the mineral gypsum in this sand sea, and because the mineral is left behind when a body of water evaporates, it's a yet another indicator of Mars' watery past.Since NASA’s Curiosity rover began roaming around on Mars in 2012, it has detected random puffs of methane from the Martian surface. That has scientists very interested—because methane is a byproduct of life, it's a possible indicator of microbes below the topsoil.This type of surface is called “chaos” so named for its chaotic patterns. It’s found on places like Jupiter’s moon Europa as well as this region on Mars with the fitting name Aurorae Chaos. Oh, and this image isn’t an actual photo; it's created using terrain data collected by different spacecraft.

Author: Shannon Stirone
photo
07.06.19
10:00 am

Space Photos of the Week: Chaotic, Gassy Mars

This week’s space adventures will take us around the galaxy and beyond, but first we’re going to linger for a bit within our own solar system. Over on Mars we’re going to fly over some chaotic terrain—so called for its haphazard appearance. This type of feature can be found not only on Mars but on Jupiter’s moon Europa as well. Also on Mars we will visit its largest dune field. Earth has dune fields like this too in our deserts—just one more thing we have in common with Mars. Generally though Mars is still quite a mystery. Over the years our rovers there have detected small bursts of methane, and two weeks ago, NASA’s Curiosity rover detected yet another whiff. Last we checked, there are no cows on Mars. Because methane is a byproduct of life, though, something could be burping below the surface.

After we leave Mars we’ll hop over the main asteroid belt and visit Jupiter. More than 20 years ago a comet named Shoemaker-Levy got a bit too close to the gas giant and wound up striking it in several spots. This comet run-in was surprising to astronomers because the general thought was that impacts like these didn’t happen in the outer solar system this long after the formation of the solar system. Once they realized comets and asteroids were still afoot in the neighborhood, astronomers began putting together planetary protection studies, and now we have whole fields dedicated to watching for near-earth objects. Thank you Jupiter, for taking a beating in the name of our safety!

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