Astronomers Spot Shooting Stars On Mars For First Time

Washington D.C. (AHN) - Astronomers have recorded a shower of shooting stars on Mars for the first time. Meteors have been recorded by the Mars rovers, but no device had detected a full shower until now.

As reported on Space.com, astronomers tracked a comet's path near Mars and then compared their forecast with Mars Global Surveyor satellite data of the planet's ionosphere. The upper reaches of atmosphere teemed with charged particles, said British astronomers.

Apostolos Christou, an astronomer at the U.K.'s Armagh Observatory who helped predict the Martian meteoric event, will present findings Wednesday about the meteor-showering pass of comet 79P/du Toit-Hartley at the Royal Astronomical Society's National Astronomy Meeting in Belfast.

Meteor showers on Mars can occur when a planet passes through the dusty trail of a comet, Space.com reported, adding there could be many more meteor showers visible from Mars than from Earth.

Christou and his colleagues predicted six meteor showers caused by the intersection of Mars with dust trails from comet 79P/du Toit-Hartley since 1997, when the MGS satellite entered orbit.

The shower was studied using the brightness and length of meteor streaks in optical and radio data, which can help determine the age, size and composition of a comet's core.