A new study has helped scientists better understand how Mars’s climate changed and why the red planet has no water.

The proton aurora is the most common form found on Mars. Like the Northern Lights on Earth, they are formed when solar winds react with the planet’s atmosphere.

According to Science Alert, new observations show proton auroras in 14 percent of daytime observations in the MAVEN dataset, and in 80 percent of the daytime observations during the southern summer on Mars.

The new understanding that these are much more common than previously thought, could help explain where water on Mars is going.

The solar wind’s positively charged protons get neutralised when they hit Mar’s hydrogen cloud, by taking electrons from hydrogen atoms.

“Observations of proton auroras at Mars provide a unique perspective of hydrogen and, therefore, water loss from the planet,” physicist Edwin Mierkiewicz of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida, told Science Alert.

“Through this research, we can gain a deeper understanding of the Sun’s interactions with the upper atmosphere of Mars and with similar bodies in our Solar System, or in another solar system, that lack a global magnetic field.”

The increased dust and heat in the summer causes water vapour to get lifted to higher altitudes, thickening the hydrogen cloud, further increasing the proton auroras.

“Perhaps one day, when interplanetary travel becomes commonplace, travellers arriving at Mars during southern summer will have front-row seats to observe Martian proton aurora majestically dancing across the day-side of the planet, while wearing ultraviolet-sensitive goggles, of course,” says planetary scientist Andréa Hughes, from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

Image: Pixabay