Fed II Star - March 26, 2006

ASTRONOMERS BAFFLED BY "MARTIAN LIGHTS"

Reports have been coming in over the last few days of strange lights seen in the Martian skies. The bright green flashes have been likened to the auroras usually seen on Earth, and so have been dubbed the Martian Lights by reporters.

Most of the reports seen by the Fed II Star show the lights concentrating in the area around the main town. We don't know if that's because the lights are only appearing in that one part of the sky, or if they are appearing all over the planet but elsewhere there are no people to see them. The only people in a position to know are the Imperial Navy, whose system-wide sensors would have picked up any anomaly, but as usual they are refusing to release any information about their findings. Their lack of interest in freedom of information makes it very difficult for us newsdroids to do our job!

Meanwhile, civilian astronomers, including those employed by the Galactic Administration, are baffled. Despite the similarity to Earth's Auroa Borealis, they say that the Martian Lights are not the same. On Earth, the light displays are caused by interactions between electrically charged particles with the upper atmosphere along magnetic field lines. But Mars does not have a magnetic field of its own, and although in the past there have been occasional displays, the Martian aurora is a highly concentrated, localised emission controlled by magnetic field anomalies in the Martian crust, and it does not look anything like the green flashes that have been observed recently.

Whether the Martian lights are a natural phenomenon or some kind of man-made (or alien-made) effect, nobody knows, except perhaps the Imperial Navy. We at the Fed II Star will continue to press for information, but in the meantime, our advice is to simply enjoy the light show!