{"id":169094,"date":"2025-12-05T07:17:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T07:17:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/169094\/"},"modified":"2025-12-05T07:17:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T07:17:08","slug":"martian-butterfly-pattern-spotted-in-mars-express-atmosphere-data","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/169094\/","title":{"rendered":"Martian \u2018Butterfly\u2019 Pattern Spotted In Mars Express Atmosphere Data"},"content":{"rendered":"

ESA\u2019s Mars Express mission has recorded a large, butterfly-shaped structure high in Mars\u2019 atmosphere, hinting at how small disturbances in the thin air can build into continent-scale waves. The pattern sits above the southern hemisphere and appears in repeated passes as the spacecraft samples the upper atmosphere.<\/p>\n

New Insight Into Waves In Mars\u2019 Thin Air<\/p>\n

The \u201cbutterfly\u201d emerges when scientists stack many orbits of data and plot altitude against latitude and density. Two broad wings of enhanced density show up on either side of the equator, separated by a central region of thinner air. The feature stretches hundreds of kilometres vertically, far above the dusty lower atmosphere more familiar from rover imagery.<\/p>\n

Related: Official Details On The Damage To The Shenzhou-20 Spacecraft<\/a><\/p>\n

Mars Express<\/a> carries instruments able to track how the atmosphere changes with height, including radio occultation measurements and spectrometers that sense temperature and composition. By combining results from different instruments, the team can follow waves as they move upward from the lower layers into the thermosphere. The butterfly pattern sits where those waves start to break and deposit energy.<\/p>\n

Models suggest that surface winds and Mars\u2019 rugged terrain play a key role. Air flowing over crater rims, canyon walls and high plateaus can set up gravity waves, ripples that travel upward through thinner air until they grow large enough to distort density and temperature profiles. Seasonal changes in sunlight and dust activity then modulate how strong those waves become and where they peak.<\/p>\n

As well as the visual pattern, the Martian butterfly can lead to real consequences in the upper atmosphere. Waves that disturb these heights can change drag on low-orbiting spacecraft, influence how gases leak into space and reshape how charged particles follow magnetic field lines. Future missions have to treat this behaviour as part of the baseline environment for aerobraking, communications links and long-term orbital stability.<\/p>\n

The result adds another piece to the picture of Mars as a dynamic world, with air that responds strongly to surface features and seasonal forcing despite being less than one per cent as dense as Earth\u2019s. Long-lived missions such as Mars Express are well placed to track these patterns over many years, watching how they grow, fade and shift with the planet\u2019s weather cycles.<\/p>\n

\"\" Published by Ben Ward<\/p>\n

Ben Ward studied English Literature and Language at the University of Bristol. With a background in analytical news writing and an interest in space exploration, his work focuses on the connection between science, history, and language. He has a measured approach to space journalism, always prioritising accuracy. He is interested in how the decisions of private industry, government agencies, and scientific institutions shape the future of space exploration. When not writing, He closely follows updates in Geopolitics, Aerospace and Planetary science, considering how humanity’s presence on earth has an influence far beyond it.<\/p>\n

All posts by Ben Ward<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ESA\u2019s Mars Express mission has recorded a large, butterfly-shaped structure high in Mars\u2019 atmosphere, hinting at how small…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":169095,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[111,43,139,69,147,392],"class_list":["post-169094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-science","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=169094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169094\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/169095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}