One year ago, on 21 September 2014, NASA's MAVEN (Mars Atmospheric and Volatile EvolutioN) spacecraft entered Mars orbit and began studying the Red Planet's upper atmosphere. This mission has provided a wealth of information that helps us understand how the Martian atmosphere responds to the Sun and solar winds, and how these interactions explain the loss of atmosphere to space.

MAVEN recorded this ultraviolet image of Mars‘ northern hemisphere after passing the farthest point from the Sun in Mars’ orbit in January 2023.

Image description:

This ultraviolet image of Mars reveals shades of indigo, magenta, tan, white and forest green. In the north polar region, the rapidly changing seasons produce abundant white clouds. The deep canyons of Valles Marineris, with their many craters, can be seen in tan in the lower left. The ozone, which appears magenta in this ultraviolet image, has accumulated during the cold polar nights of the northern winter. It is then destroyed in the northern spring by chemical reactions with water vapour, which at this time of year is confined to the low altitudes of the atmosphere.

 

Credit: @NASA/LASP/CU Boulder

Doesn't look like a planet, does it?