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Where does all that dust on Mars come from?

25 July 2018
Astronomy

At https://phys.org/print451651722.html … the dust that coats much of Mars come from a single thousand kilometre long geological formation near the Martian equator – or that is what has been deduced by researchers intrigued by the dust storm. What is further acknowledged is that global dust storms seem to engulf Mars around every 10 years or so.

At https://phys.org/print451567251.html … the ionosphere of Jupiter is challenging researchers looking at data beamed back by the Juno mission. The aurora on Jupiter are said to be quite brilliantly bright but of more interest to most of us is the dark ribbon that undulates around the planet. This, it is suggested, marks the line of the magnetic equator on Jupiter – but there are two other dark bands which may also mark magnetic anomalaies at the top of the atmosphere.

The dark ribbon, we are told, is caused by weak hydrogen ion emissions and the magnetic equator on Jupiter is not as complex as originally surmised. Its shape is much like the earth version – but the ionosphere differs. This may be as a result of the magnetic field occurring at shallow depths.

Then we have the Great Cold spot which may also be caused by the magnetic field. Heat is transported around the atmosphere as a way to leak out energy – which is where the Great Cold Spot comes in (the point where the heat is released as a result of cooling in the thermosphere). Something similar also occurs on earth where excess heat and energy is transported around the global conveyor belt system and released at the North Pole.

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