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First observation of a meteor in the Martian atmosphere

1er juin 2005 First observation of a meteor in the Martian atmosphere

In passing close to the Sun, comets lose a large number of small particules, which spread out, but continue to travel along the orbit of the comet. When a planet like the Earth encounters this orbit, the particules disintegrate in the atmosphere, producing luminous phenomena, called meteors. This phenomenon has just been, for the first time, identified on Mars, by a team of researchers, with among them an astronomer from Paris Observatory.

References

  • (1) F. Selsis, M. Lemmon, J. Vaubaillon, J. Bell ; Nature, 2005
  • (2) [F. Selsis, J. Brillet, M. Rapaport ; Astronomy & Astrophysics, 2004

Contact

  • Jérémie Vaubaillon
    Observatoire de Paris, IMCCE