--- title: Mystery Plume Spotted on Mars, Astronomers Baffled description: A formation first spotted by amateur astronomers baffles the pros canonical: https://time.com/3712059/mars-mystery-plume/ author: Jeffrey Kluger article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-02-17T21:00:31.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-01T09:02:51.544Z article:section: Science og:title: Something Strange Happened on Mars og:description: And no one can explain it og:url: https://time.com/3712059/mars-mystery-plume/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6cc18aadfd2c5e59/69877fa0cd1bba0d616f5412/mars-plume.jpg?branch=production&width=534&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 534 og:image:height: 300 og:image:alt: Huh? The mysterious Mars plume and the various shapes it has assumed og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Something Strange Happened on Mars twitter:description: And no one can explain it twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6cc18aadfd2c5e59/69877fa0cd1bba0d616f5412/mars-plume.jpg?branch=production&width=534&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Towering Plume Spotted on Mars Remains a Mystery > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME Newsletters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME publishes seven free email newsletters, written and edited by TIME journalists, reaching more than 1.1 million engaged readers. TIME has reported on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world since 1923, and its newsletters bring that same authority directly to the inbox. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=82b5052f-0aad-4aaa-8358-1f0ce8799083&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Was There Water On Mars? [Watch (HLS stream): Was There Water On Mars?](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/D2PMM67Z.m3u8) (2:12)  _Published 2013-11-16. Why did Mars lose its atmosphere and almost all of its water 3.7 billion years ago? The MAVEN spacecraft may bring us answers._  by [Jeffrey Kluger](https://time.com/author/jeffrey-kluger/)  ## Jeffrey Kluger Editor at Large Feb 17, 2015 9:00 PM UTC  by [Jeffrey Kluger](https://time.com/author/jeffrey-kluger/)  ## Jeffrey Kluger Editor at Large Feb 17, 2015 9:00 PM UTC It’s not often astronomers are completely stumped—especially when it comes to Mars. The planet that once held nothing but mysteries has been yielding up more and more of its secrets, thanks to the storm of probes we’ve sent its way over the decades, including the seven that are now orbiting it or trundling about on its surface. But something’s up with Mars at the moment—or at least something was up not long ago—and nobody seems able to explain it. That’s the beats-me conclusion a team of investigators reached in [a new paper in _Nature_](http://www.nature.com/articles/nature14162.epdf?referrer%5Faccess%5Ftoken=aJGoRhoqKwQ0mGIbNimTX9RgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0PQU3zoghsPsRCu5hOdcH3CHlh3R3ocEyvNcmGW%5FtrVE1dLVWvwTeNzkHhjdOfAxAw0YEEMGxUPYlgXoxGAUpOS), when they attempted to explain a freakish plume that appeared in the Martian atmosphere in March and April of 2012, and might have occurred in 1997 as well. The newest plume, which rose an unprecedented 155 miles (250 km) high in the Martian sky, was first observed by Wayne Jaeschke, an amateur astronomer in West Chester, Pa. on March 12, 2012\. He sent the word out across the amateur astronomer community and soon reports were coming back that yes, other backyard sky-watchers were seeing the same thing. The plume lasted for 11 days and then recurred on April 6, this time hanging around for 10 days. Both phenomena appeared in the same spot in Mars’s southern hemisphere. Plumes aren’t unheard of on Mars. The planet does have an atmosphere, after all—albeit one only 1% the thickness of Earth’s—and both dust and ice crystals can swirl up into the sky. Aurorae may also appear when charged particles streaming in from the sun interact with the planet’s magnetic field, which can create a plume-like effect. But ice crystals have never been observed to climb above an altitude of 62 miles (100 km). Aurorae occur higher in the Martian sky, but at a maximum of 80 miles (130 km), they fall short too. And dust storms don’t even come close. But those three are the only known explanations for what Jaeschke and the others saw—or at least the only known ones—and the mere fact that dust or ice or aurorae have never behaved this way before does not mean that they can’t. So a team of researchers led by Agustín Sánchez-Lavega of the University of the Basque Country in Bilbao, Spain, decided to put all three theories to the test. ### Photos from the Curiosity Rover’s First 2 Incredible Years on Mars  A full-circle view released by NASA on June 20, 2013, combined nearly 900 images taken by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover, generating a panorama with 1.3 billion pixels in the full-resolution version. The view is centered toward the south, with north at both ends. It shows NASA's Mars rover Curiosity at the 'Rocknest' site where the rover scooped up samples of windblown dust and sand. NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/EPA  NASA's Mars Curiosity Rover captures a selfie to mark a full Martian year -- 687 Earth days -- spent exploring the Red Planet. NASA/JPL  A detailed telephoto view from Curiosity shows Mount Sharp. The rover was expected to reach the 3.4-mile-high peak in February 2013, and the layered surface of the mountain should yield information to scientists on the planet's geological history. University of Arizona/JPL-Caltech/NASA  The Mar's Curiosity Rover's first photo of earth from the surface of Mars via Twitter NASA  Curiosity's tracks was taken by Navcam onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity, on Nov. 18 2012. University of Arizona/JPL-Caltech/NASA  Tracks from NASA's Curiosity Mars rover on Aug. 22, 2012 on Mars. NASA said the rover moved forward 15 feet, then rotated 120 degrees before reversing 8.2 feet during its first planned movement. NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/EPA  The highest point on Mount Sharp is visible from the Curiosity rover on Aug. 18, 2012\. The Martian mountain rises 3.4 miles above the floor of Gale Crater. Geological deposits near the base of Mount Sharp are the destination of Curiosity's Mars mission. NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/EPA  This image shows the robotic arm of NASA's Mars rover Curiosity with the first rock touched by an instrument on the arm. JPL-Caltech/NASA  This patch of windblown sand and dust downhill from a cluster of dark rocks is the "Rocknest" site, which was the location for the first use of the scoop on the arm of Curiosity. JPL-Caltech/MSSS/NASA  A small bright object on the ground beside the rover at the "Rocknest" site. The rover team has assessed this object as debris from the spacecraft, possibly from the events of landing on Mars. NASA  NASA's Mars rover Curiosity cut a wheel scuff mark into a wind-formed ripple at the "Rocknest" site to examine the particle-size of the ripple. For scale, the width of the wheel track is about 16 inches (40 centimeters). JPL-Caltech/NASA  A Martian rock illuminated by white-light LEDs is part of the first set of nighttime images taken by the Mars Hand Lens Imager camera. NASA  When the rover landed, it sent images from one of the hazard-avoidance cameras. The image at left was taken before the camera's dust cover was removed, the image on the right was taken after. These engineering cameras are located at the rover's base, and are lower-resolution than the color images produced by the rover's mast. University of Arizona/JPL-Caltech/NASA  NASA's Curiosity rover and its parachute are seen by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter as Curiosity descends to the surface around 10:32 p.m. PDT, Aug. 5, or 1:32 a.m. EDT, Aug. 6, 2012\. The rover is equipped with a nuclear-powered lab capable of vaporizing rocks and ingesting soil, measuring habitability, and whether Mars ever had an environment able to support life. University of Arizona/JPL-Caltech/NASA The investigators began their work by studying not just the images of the plumes but also roughly 3,500 pictures of Mars captured by amateur astronomers around the world from 2001 to 2014, as well as a series of shots taken by the Hubble space telescope from 1995 to 1999, when it was giving the Red Planet a good going-over. None of these pictures showed anything similar to the 2012 phenomena except for a single shot taken by Hubble on May 17, 1997, which did show a similar plume in a similar spot. Ice crystals—whether made of water or carbon dioxide—were easy for the researchers to rule out. In addition to the altitude problem, the atmosphere would have to be significantly colder than it typically is at the height at which the plume was observed, and if the crystals were water ice, conditions would also have to be far wetter than they ever get so far above ground. The reflectivity of the plume was similar to what would be expected if light were bouncing off of ice crystals, but that doesn’t fix the other problems. Dust was even less plausible. In this case, the reflectivity was all wrong and while so called “rocket dust storms” could, in theory blow dust to unprecedented altitudes, no such gales were observed on Mars at the time of the plume in 2012\. All this was true of the 1997 plume as well. And as for aurorae? They struck out too. Incoming solar energy was too weak at the time to put on such a sky show, and even if it had been, the plumes were too dim in the ultraviolet frequencies to be aurora-related. The astronomy community as a whole seems untroubled that the study concluded with what amounts to a peer-reviewed _who knows?_ “The observation is a big surprise,” said French astronomer Aymeic Spiga, in a statement put out by _Nature_. “Another puzzle on Mars!” And happily, the conspiracy community has not yet been heard from—whispering on as they did about the mysterious [face on Mars](http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2001/ast24may%5F1/) photographed by the Viking 1 spacecraft in 1976, which turned out to be nothing more than a mound in the planet’s Cydonia region cast in evocative shadows on the day it was photographed. By 1998, the Mars Global Surveyor revealed that the formation had largely eroded away. The plumes, if they prove anything, are merely one more sign that we have a great deal to learn about our close planetary neighbor. Life may or may not exist on Mars, but cosmic puzzles surely do. _Read next:_ [_Astronauts Vying for One-Way Ticket to Mars May Be on Reality TV_](http://time.com/3711998/mars-one-100/?xid=time%5Freadnext) [_Listen to the most important stories of the day._](http://time.com/newsletter/the-brief/?sl%5Fautoplay=true&xid=spl-fullbrief-article) ## Transcript [ MUSIC ]. Earth and Mars are both about 4. 5 billion years old, and both began as wet, even waterlogged places. But about 3. 7 billion years ago, Mars lost its atmosphere and when that happened it lost almost all of its water. The question is why and the answer may come from the MAVEN spacecraft, which NASA plans to launch on November 18th. [ MUSIC ]. Mars may have lost its atmosphere in several ways. The planet is not only smaller, but also less dense than Earth and as a result has only about 38 % of Earth's gravity. That makes it hard to hold on to air. Life may still have taken hold, at least in microbial form during the early years of Mars' existence, because life on earth is thought to have begun about 800 million years after its formation. At that point in Mars' history. It was still warm and wet. Some of the upper reaches of Mars' atmosphere could simply have frittered away into space. And great gusts of it could have been lost early in the planet's life during what's known as the Great Heavy Bombardment period. But Mars' atmosphere was subjected to a more insidious force as well. The solar wind, the stream of charged particles that gush forth from the sun, would have interacted with the atmosphere and stripped much of it away through an entirely different process. Earth feels the solar wind too, but we have a magnetic field. Mars once had a weaker one, and even that eventually faded. [ MUSIC ] The MAVEN spacecraft will fly an elliptical orbit around Mars. Sometimes dipping as low as 77 miles. And sometimes as high as about 3, 800 miles. That will allow it to get both a big picture look at the planet, and also an up- close sampling of its atmosphere. 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