Mars shows Earthlike solar-wind bending in its atmosphere
TL;DR
NASA’s MAVEN data, gathered after it went quiet in 2025, reveal the Zwan-Wolf effect—an Earth-style solar-wind deflection—occurring in Mars’ upper atmosphere during a December 2023 solar storm. The finding suggests Mars’ atmosphere can host temporary magnetic structures that funnel charged particles, implying the effect may operate continuously there but is usually too weak to detect; the results were published in Nature Communications. NASA also notes MAVEN’s ongoing recovery efforts after a period of contact loss.
- 'Very interesting wiggles' in data from silent NASA Mars spacecraft lead to unexpected solar wind discovery Space
- Detection of Zwan-Wolf effect in the ionosphere of Mars Nature
- NASA’s MAVEN Detects Atmospheric Effect on Mars That ‘No One Expected’ Gizmodo
- UPSC Prelims Current Affairs for 20 May 2026 Vajiram & Ravi
- First Observations Of Zwan-Wolf Effect On Another World Are 124 Miles Deep In The Martian Atmosphere IFLScience
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