NASA captures massive aurora on Mars

For many, getting a peek at the northern lights is something of a dream come true.

Sorry to spoil the fun, but there’s another planet in the neighborhood with a light show, and it's in a whole other league.

On September 12th, NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft spotted an aurora covering a massive chunk of Mars, and they've shared the ultraviolet view. It sure makes our little lights look underwhelming.

Since there’s no strong magnetic field on Mars, these types of storms can run wild all over the planet. One member of MAVEN’s Imaging team said this storm “lit up Mars like a lightbulb.”

However great a sight it is, you wouldn’t actually want to be around for this. While all this was going on, our poor buddy Curiosity, a Mars rover, was on the ground getting roasted by radiation.

NASA saw radiation levels on Mars that were twice as high as anything they’d seen in the last five years -- not exactly the safest place for space-tourists.

So even though the lights down on Earth are a bit smaller, at least they’re just for show.

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