On Earth we have the Northern and Southern Lights, and there’s a similar phenomenon on Mars too. But instead of sticking to the planet’s poles, these faint auroras can show up anywhere on the planet; wherever there are patches of strong magnetic fields. Over the past six years, NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor has turned up 13,000 aurora events on the Red Planet, and mapped their locations. These mini magnetic fields can potentially protect the planet’s surface from the Sun’s solar wind.
