Tagged: atmosphere

Earth is the only planet in the solar system with an atmosphere that can sustain life. The blanket of gases that surrounds our home planet not only contains the air that we breathe but also protects us from blasts of heat and radiation emanating from...

A huge wave has been spotted in the upper atmosphere of Venus, baffling scientists because it’s staying so still above the planet’s surface. Usually clouds in that region move at about 328 feet per second, whereas this cloud is stationary compared to the planet’s rotation....

Seasonal changes in an alien planet’s atmosphere could signal the presence of extraterrestrial life, new research suggests. Researchers aim to expand our ability to hunt for aliens by creating a new search protocol to be used with next-generation telescopes. As described in a paper published...

We’ve all heard of the ozone layer in Earth’s atmosphere. But actually going to study it, where the air is too thin for a conventional aircraft, is another thing. Next summer a private research effort intends to achieve that goal by soaring more than 90,000...

A fascinating new NASA video gives us a glimpse into the atmosphere of one of our solar system neighbors like never before. The footage shows cloud streaks developing, moving and eventually fading above the surface of Titan, the largest moon of Saturn. Traveling at a...

Some day in the distant future, explorers from Earth decide to visit Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system, and probe its mysteries. At the end of their nearly two-year journey, they reach the giant planet, so immense that more than 1,300 Earths would...

– A new gigantic planet that has the density of styrofoam was recently found by astronomers. The planet, officially called as KELT-11b, is orbiting very close to its host star in an orbit that lasts less than five days.The star is located 320 light years...

One of the most cited and least-interpreted quotations from the history of the atomic age is what J. Robert Oppenheimer claimed to have thought when he witnessed the world’s first nuclear explosion: “I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.” Shortly after Oppenheimer, director of...