"NASA's MAVEN spacecraft captures stunning ultraviolet views of Mars"

NASA's MAVEN spacecraft has captured two ultraviolet images of Mars at different points in its orbit around the Sun in 2022 and 2023, providing unique insights into the planet's atmosphere, seasonal changes, and surface details. The images will aid in understanding Mars' atmospheric loss, informing about its climate history and potential habitability. The images were taken by MAVEN's Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph (IUVS) instrument, which measures wavelengths outside the visible spectrum. The first image was taken during the southern hemisphere's summer season, while the second image was taken after Mars had passed the farthest point in its orbit from the Sun. MAVEN's goal is to explore the planet's upper atmosphere, ionosphere, and interactions with the Sun and solar wind to explore the loss of the Martian atmosphere to space.