Page 8 - All About Space 68 - 2017 UK

LAUNCH PAD

YOUR FIRST CONTACT WITH THE UNIVERSE

Colour view of

mountainous Mars

The Libya Montes highlands in the equatorial region of the
Red Planet, and at the boundary between the southern
highlands and northern lowlands, can be seen in this
image snapped by the European Space Agency’s Mars
Express spacecraft, using its impressive High Resolution
Stereo Camera (HRSC).
Libya Montes was supposedly up-lifted by the giant
impact that created the Isidis basin, which was likely to be
the last major basin to be formed on Mars, to the north.

Double eruptions

from the

solar surface

A solar flare and coronal mass ejection spewed from
the surface of the Sun from the same area of activity in
mid-July, lasting for almost two hours. Coils arch over
the active region, made up of particles spiralling along
magnetic field lines that were reorganising themselves
after the fields were disrupted by the blast.
Solar flares are giant explosions on the surface
of the Sun that propel energy, light and high-speed
particles into space. They are often associated with
magnetic storms on the solar surface, known as
coronal mass ejections.

© NASA/GSFC/Solar Dynamics Observatory

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