Publication Date:
2005-02-01
Description:
We detected light emissions in the nightside martian atmosphere with the SPICAM (spectroscopy for the investigation of the characteristics of the atmosphere of Mars) ultraviolet (UV) spectrometer on board the Mars Express. The UV spectrum of this nightglow is composed of hydrogen Lyman alpha emission (121.6 nanometers) and the gamma and delta bands of nitric oxide (NO) (190 to 270 nanometers) produced when N and O atoms combine to produce the NO molecule. N and O atoms are produced by extreme UV photodissociation of O2, CO2, and N2 in the dayside upper atmosphere and transported to the night side. The NO emission is brightest in the winter south polar night because of continuous downward transport of air in this region at night during winter and because of freezing at ground level.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Bertaux, Jean-Loup -- Leblanc, Francois -- Perrier, Severine -- Quemerais, E -- Korablev, Oleg -- Dimarellis, E -- Reberac, A -- Forget, F -- Simon, P C -- Stern, S A -- Sandel, Bill -- SPICAM Team -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2005 Jan 28;307(5709):566-9.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Service d'Aeronomie du CNRS/Institut Pierre-Simon Laplace (IPSL), BP.3, 91371, Verrieres-le-Buisson, France. bertaux@aerov.jussieu.fr〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15681381" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Atmosphere
;
Carbon Dioxide
;
Extraterrestrial Environment
;
Hydrogen
;
*Mars
;
*Nitric Oxide
;
Nitrogen
;
Oxygen
;
Seasons
;
Spacecraft
;
Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet
;
Temperature
;
Ultraviolet Rays
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
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