Some viral headlines suggest JWST detected “lights” or artificial illumination on Mars.This plays into long-running conspiracy theories about secret Martian civilizations or NASA “hiding evidence.”
🔦 James Webb Telescope “Finds Lights on Mars”?
1. The Claim
-
Some viral headlines suggest JWST detected “lights” or artificial illumination on Mars.
-
This plays into long-running conspiracy theories about secret Martian civilizations or NASA “hiding evidence.”
2. The Reality
-
JWST is not aimed at Mars for surface mapping — it focuses on distant galaxies, exoplanets, and cosmic structures.
-
Any “lights” reported are actually:
-
Atmospheric glows (auroras caused by solar wind interacting with Mars’ thin atmosphere).
-
Thermal emissions — heat signatures from dust storms, polar caps, or rocky surfaces radiating infrared.
-
Reflected sunlight from ice and dust, which JWST’s infrared detectors pick up vividly.
-
3. Why It Feels Mysterious
-
Infrared images from JWST look alien to the untrained eye — glowing patterns across the planet.
-
Without context, it’s easy to interpret them as artificial lights.
-
NASA’s own data shows these emissions are natural phenomena, not city skylines.