New Delhi: Scientists from NASA believe that Mars has a magnetic twisted tail unlike any other planet in the solar system.
A tail trails behind Mars and it is twisted far more dramatically than expected.
Other planets, such as Venus and Earth, also have magnetotails but Mars' seems to be far more complicated.
As per a report in Daily Mail, data collected by NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution Mission (MAVEN) spacecraft suggest the processes behind the twisted tail could also be contributing to the thinning of Mars’ already sparse atmosphere.
‘We found that Mars’ magnetic tail, or magnetotail, is unique in the solar system,’ said project scientist Gina DiBraccio of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
‘It’s not like the magnetotail found at Venus, a planet with no magnetic field of its own, no is it like Earth’s which is surrounded by its own internally generated magnetic field.
‘Instead, it is a hybrid between the two.’
As per experts, the twisting is likely due to a process known as ‘magnetic reconnection.’
While Mars lost its global magnetic field billions of years ago, certain parts of the surface still contain ‘fossil’ magnetic fields left behind.
The study found Mars magnetotail is formed by magnetic reconnection as the magnetic fields from solar wind join with these remnant magnetic fields in the surface.
But, this same process may send some of Mars’ thin atmosphere flying out to space.
