All that is known about Mars discrete aurorae so far
<p>The discrete aurorae on Mars were discovered with the SPICAM spectrograph on board Mars Express. Now, they have been analyzed in detail using the much more sensitive MAVEN/IUVS imaging spectrograph.</p><p>This presentation gives a summary of the very latest results obtained by Schneider et al. and Soret et al. on this topic.</p><p>The main conclusions are the following:</p><ul><li>the number of auroral event detections has considerably increased since the Mars Express observations;</li> <li>many detections have been made outside of the Southern crustal magnetic field structures;</li> <li>the MUV spectrum shows the same emissions as those observed in the dayglow, with similar intensity ratios;</li> <li>the Vegard-Kaplan bands of N<sub>2</sub> have been observed for the first time in the Martian aurora;</li> <li>the CO Cameron and the CO<sub>2</sub><sup>+</sup> UVD emissions occur at the same altitude;</li> <li>the OI emission at 297.2 nm has been analyzed;</li> <li>the CO Cameron/CO<sub>2</sub><sup>+</sup> UVD ratio is quasi-constant;</li> <li>intensities are higher in B-field regions;</li> <li>auroral emissions are more frequent in the pre-midnight sector;</li> <li>the altitude of the emission layer is independent of local time and presence or absence of a crustal magnetic field;</li> <li>the altitude of the emission layer varies moderately with season (atmospheric effect);</li> <li>the events are spatially correlated with an increase in the flux of energetic electrons simultaneously measured by the MAVEN/SWEA (Solar Wind Electron Analyzer) detectors;</li> <li>the peak altitude of the emission is in good agreement with that expected from the average electron energy.</li> </ul>