During the late September to mid-October stretch in 2021, China's Mars orbiter experienced its first sun transit, when its communication with Earth was significantly disturbed by solar radiation.
The Mars Sun Transit is a phenomenon in which Earth and Mars move to opposite sides of the sun, and the three are almost in a straight line.
During the transit, Tianwen-1 and Mars Express sent out frequent signals, allowing radio telescopes on Earth to examine how those signals were affected.
A paper published recently in Astrophysical Journal Letters revealed that on Oct 9, 2021 - when the red planet's projection point near the sun was 2.6 times solar radius away from the sun's center - a violent solar burst event called a coronal mass ejection (CME) caused noticeable disturbances for a period of 10 minutes.
Also, coronal waves were detected near the projection point, a phenomenon reflecting how magnetic fields constrain solar winds, according to the study led by scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
The scientists also identified the high-speed primary solar wind when the CME was winding down. The high-speed solar wind was detected much closer to the sun than expected, according to the study.
China's Tianwen-1 Mars mission, comprising an orbiter, lander and rover, was launched on July 23, 2020.
Source: Xinhua News Agency
| The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, is Copyright 1995-2026 Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principles for news reporting and research purposes. |
