🇺🇸▼
Space stories often show aliens. They help us learn real science. A star affects its planets. Scientists call this the Zwan-Wolf effect. Solar wind hits a planet. Solar wind is gas from the sun. It creates a protective shield. This shield blocks bad radiation. New research proves this on Mars. Mars lacks a global magnetic field. Usually, planets need this field. Yet, Mars shows the effect. Experts published findings in Nature Communications.
Researchers used NASA’s MAVEN craft. MAVEN studies Mars’ atmosphere. They checked data from December 2023. Solar wind hit the ionosphere. The ionosphere is an upper layer. It holds charged particles. Sun rays break gas molecules. This frees ions and electrons. They move as a charged group.
The Zwan-Wolf effect is known on Earth. Wind squeezes Earth’s magnetic field. Scientists never saw this on Mars. Mars has no global field. A strong solar storm caused it. The storm hit in December 2023. It was a rare event. Normal events are too weak. Current tools cannot detect them. This storm was powerful enough. It allowed for a new discovery.
Dr. Christopher Fowler led the study. He works at West Virginia University. He said, "No one expected this." The finding surprised many experts. It adds new physics to science. It helps us understand Mars. We see how the sun changes the planet. This insight is very important.