A "Void" Hurtling Through The Solar System Blew Up Mars Atmosphere

ScienceAlert (via MSN.com) ^ | 13 December 2023 | Michelle Starr

[zeestephen]

A void left in the wake of a particularly powerful gust of solar wind caused the atmosphere of Mars to dramatically balloon outwards...As the MAVEN spacecraft in orbit around Mars recorded a sudden, sharp drop in solar particles when the wind passed on 26 December 2022, it simultaneously recorded a bizarre and startling change in the Martian atmosphere...The last time we saw this phenomenon was in 1999, when a sudden drop in the solar wind caused Earth's magnetosphere to swell outwards, increasing its volume 100-fold.

[zeestephen]

There is an excellent NASA video on this subject embedded in the article. Click the "Continue" bar, and scroll down to "The Day The Solar Wind Disappeared From Mars." Really wonderful educational graphics. I wish we had videos like this when I took high school physics more than 50 years ago.

[SaveFerris]

[A "Void" Hurtling Through The Solar System Blew Up Mars Atmosphere]

Thanks a lot, Nully.......

[coloradan]

Obviously because entitled, privileged White Americans are driving SUVs.

[ClearCase_guy]

The last time we saw this phenomenon was in 1999, when a sudden drop in the solar wind caused Earth's magnetosphere to swell outwards, increasing its volume 100-fold.

I believe that under normal circumstances, the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is 0.04% -- which is a tiny percentage. So, in 1999, wouldn't the percentage have dropped to 0.0004%? And if so, did this affect global warming?

[null and void]

Just like blowing out a birthday cake candle...

[indthkr]

As we also know, “Climate Change” is substantially caused by The Sun, a giant ball of thermonuclear fire that produces
9.2E10 Megatons of output per second.

[urbanpovertylawcenter]

Is that why I was feeling so short of breath that day? Whew, and I thought it was the two packs of cigarettes a day. I stopped smoking, but now I’m gonna go get me a pack.

[SaveFerris]

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 Fire!!!!!!!!! /George Costanza

[sjmjax]

"Pathetic Earthlings, hurling your bodies out into the void, without the slightest inkling of who or what is out here. If you had known anything about the true nature of the universe, anything at all, you would've hidden from it in terror!"

Ming the Merciless

[Bob434]

my advice = Avoid the Void

[Sirius Lee]

Verily!

[SunkenCiv]

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• NASA's MAVEN Observes the Disappearing Solar Wind [12/11/2023]

[Theophilus]

Serious climate change, seriously...

[SaveFerris]

Station!!!

(from Mars)

They played San Dimas High!!

[Mean Daddy]

Ozone hole in the atmosphere caused by the use of fluorocarbons.

[zeestephen]

Re: "CO2 - dropped to 0.0004?"

I had the same thought until I realized that oxygen, after the same incident, would drop to 0.21% and air pressure would drop to 0.147 psi, which, clearly did not happen.

And, people on the opposite side of the planet would be instantly crushed by 1,470 psi air.

Perhaps gravity is strong enough to hold the lower atmospheric layers in place, and just the rarefied layers are pulled further into space?

Like you, I instantly wondered what the climate consequences would be after a solar event like this.

Most likely, any research that suggests the 2019 event heated the atmosphere would be suppressed, and the researchers would be expelled from the academic community.