WASHINGTON, Sept. 23 (BUS): Three large earthquakes were measured by NASA’s Mars lander last month, including earthquakes that shook the surface of Mars for about an hour and a half.
The US space agency on Wednesday said the first two earthquakes on August 25 were of magnitude 4.2 and 4.1, German news agency DPA reported.
But the longest earthquake measured by InSight to date occurred on September 18 – the 1,000th day on Mars – when a 4.2-magnitude earthquake shook the surface for about 90 minutes.
The stationary probe arrived at Mars in 2018 to study seismic waves to learn more about the interior, helping scientists better understand how planets form.
NASA said the September 18 earthquake is still being studied, but a lot has already been learned about the August events.
For example, the 4.2-magnitude earthquake occurred on August 25 about 8,500 kilometers from Insight – the farthest earthquake the probe has detected so far.
The August earthquakes were of two different types.
“The magnitude 4.2 earthquake was dominated by slow and low-frequency vibrations, while the high-frequency fast vibrations were characterized by the magnitude 4.1 earthquake,” NASA said.
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