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Space

Mars is blasting plasma out of its atmosphere into space

The Red Planet launches large bursts of plasma into space from its upper atmosphere, much like the sun’s coronal mass ejections, despite not having a global magnetic field

By Alex Wilkins

9 May 2024

An image of Mars

Jets of plasma seem to be ejected from Mars’s upper atmosphere

Shutterstock/Vadim Sadovski

Mars appears to be blasting material out of its atmosphere, much as the sun launches explosive coronal mass ejections, even though the Red Planet has no overall magnetic field.

When the magnetic fields in ionised gas, called plasma, around a star like our sun suddenly change direction or snap in two, there can be a large burst of energy that launches a parcel of plasma into space, known as a coronal mass ejection.

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