Tag Archive for 'Atmosphere'

Curiosity captured these clouds just after sunset on March 19, 2021, the 3,063rd Martian day, or sol, of the rover’s mission. The image is made up of 21 individual images stitched together and color corrected so that the scene appears as it would to the human eye. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS.

Curiosity Spots Carbon Dioxide-Ice Clouds in Martian Skies

May 28, 2021 by News Staff

In March 2021, NASA’s Curiosity rover observed clouds made of carbon dioxide (CO2) ice at high altitudes in the atmosphere of Mars. Curiosity captured...

An artist’s impression of the ultra-short-period sub-Neptune exoplanet TOI-1634b. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Helium Rain is Possible inside Jovian Planets, New Experiments Suggest

May 27, 2021 by News Staff

Jupiter, Saturn and numerous giant exoplanets discovered to date consist mostly of hydrogen and helium. In 1977, planetary scientists predicted the existence...

This picture of Neptune was produced from the last whole planet images taken through the green and orange filters on the narrow angle camera of NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft. The images were taken at a range of 7.1 million km (4.4 million miles) from the planet, 4 days and 20 hours before closest approach. The picture shows the Great Dark Spot and its companion bright smudge; on the west limb the fast moving bright feature called Scooter and the little dark spot are visible. These clouds were seen to persist for as long as Voyager’s cameras could resolve them. North of these, a bright cloud band similar to the south polar streak may be seen. Image credit: NASA / JPL.

ALMA Detects Hydrogen Cyanide Belt in Stratosphere of Neptune

May 21, 2021 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have produced a detailed map of intensity and abundance of gaseous hydrogen cyanide...

An artist’s impression of the early Earth. Image credit: NASA.

Earth’s Early Rise in Atmospheric Oxygen May Have Suppressed Evolution of Multicellular Organisms

May 19, 2021 by News Staff

Atmospheric oxygen is thought to have played a vital role in the evolution of complex multicellular organisms. The so-called oxygen control hypothesis...

This visible-light image of Jupiter was created from data captured on January 11, 2017 using Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3. Near the top, a long brown feature called a ‘brown barge’ extends 72,000 km (nearly 45,000 miles) in the east-west direction. The Great Red Spot stands out prominently in the lower left, while the smaller feature nicknamed Red Spot Jr. (known to Jovian scientists as Oval BA) appears to its lower right. Image credit: NASA / ESA / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / Wong et al. / de Pater et al. / M. Zamani.

Astronomers Capture Stunning New Images of Jupiter

May 12, 2021 by News Staff

Three images of Jupiter from the 8-m Frederick C. Gillett Gemini North telescope at the Gemini Observatory and the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope show...

An artist’s impression of the sub-Neptune exoplanet TOI-220b and its host star. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

TESS Finds Massive Exoplanet around 10-Billion-Year-Old Dwarf Star

May 10, 2021 by Natali Anderson

Astronomers using NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite have discovered a sub-Neptune exoplanet orbiting TOI-220, a bright and old K-type dwarf...

Venus in real colors, processed from Mariner 10 images. Image credit: Mattias Malmer / NASA.

Parker Solar Probe Detects Natural Radio Emission from Ionosphere of Venus

May 5, 2021 by News Staff

On July 11, 2020, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe made its third flyby of Venus. During 7 min around the closest approach, one of the spacecraft’s scientific...

An artist’s impression of the ultrahot Jupiter WASP-33b and its parent star. Image credit: Astrobiology Center.

Hydroxyl Radical Detected in Atmosphere of Ultrahot Jupiter

Apr 28, 2021 by Natali Anderson

Astronomers have detected a hydroxyl radical (OH) — the neutral form of the hydroxide ion — in the dayside atmosphere of the ultrahot Jupiter...

Hubble photo of Mars taken when the planet was 50 million miles (80 million km) from Earth on May 12. The photo reveals details as small as 20 - 30 miles (32.2 - 48.3 km) across. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble Heritage Team / STScI / AURA / J. Bell, ASU / M. Wolff, Space Science Institute.

High-Altitude Ice Clouds Caused Greenhouse Effect on Early Mars, New Study Suggests

Apr 27, 2021 by News Staff

Mars is cold today but once had water lakes and flowing rivers. The early warm climate cannot be explained by basic models of the early Mars greenhouse...

NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter can be seen hovering during its third flight on April 25, 2021, as seen by the left Navigation Camera aboard the Perseverance rover. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Ingenuity Helicopter Sets New Records during Its Third Flight

Apr 26, 2021 by News Staff

NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter took off at 4:31 a.m. EDT (1:31 a.m. PDT), or 12:33 p.m. local Mars time, on April 25, 2021, rising 5 m (16 feet); then it...

This image was taken by the WATSON camera on the robotic arm of Perseverance on April 6, 2021 (46th Martian day, or sol, of the mission). Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS.

Perseverance Extracts Pure Oxygen from Carbon Dioxide-Rich Martian Air

Apr 23, 2021 by News Staff

On April 20, 2021, the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE) instrument aboard NASA’s Perseverance rover converted some of carbon...

NASA’s Perseverance rover acquired this image on April 22, 2021, using its left Mastcam-Z camera. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS.

NASA’s Ingenuity Helicopter Completes Its Second Flight on Mars

Apr 22, 2021 by News Staff

Lasting 51.9 seconds, Ingenuity’s experimental flight on April 22, 2021, added several new challenges to its first flight, including a higher maximum...

The young Mars would have had enough water to cover its entire surface in a liquid layer about 140 m deep, but it is more likely that the liquid would have pooled to form an ocean occupying almost half of Mars’s northern hemisphere, and in some regions reaching depths greater than 1.6 km. Image credit: M. Kornmesser / ESO / N. Risinger, skysurvey.org.

Martian Climate Fluctuated between Drier and Wetter Periods Before It Went Dry

Apr 19, 2021 by News Staff

Mars had drier and wetter eras before drying up completely in the Hesperian period, about 3 billion years ago, according to an analysis of observational...

NASA’s Perseverance rover acquired this image using its onboard Right Navigation Camera (Navcam). The camera is located high on the rover’s mast and aids in driving. The image was taken on April 19, 2021 at the local mean solar time of 12:33:35. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

NASA’s Ingenuity Helicopter Successfully Demonstrates Powered, Controlled Flight on Mars

Apr 19, 2021 by News Staff

On April 19, 2021, NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter made history, hovering above Jezero Crater on Mars, demonstrating that powered, controlled flight on another...

The annual energy consumption of the Bitcoin blockchain in China is expected to peak in 2024 at 296.59 Twh and generate 130.50 million metric tons of carbon emission. Image credit: Aaron Olson.

China’s Bitcoin Miners Will Consume as Much Energy as Mid-Sized Country within Three Years

Apr 14, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

Given the current trends in Bitcoin mining, Chinese researchers estimate that the energy consumption from this process in their country alone will peak...

This image from NASA’s Galileo spacecraft shows a volcanic explosion on Io. Image credit: NASA / JPL / University of Arizon.

ALMA Detects Volcanic Gases in Atmosphere of Io

Apr 7, 2021 by Natali Anderson

Using data from the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA), astronomers from India have detected acetone, disulfur monoxide, and carbon monoxide...

Life may have begun shortly after Earth formed 4.54 billion years ago. Image credit: Hadeano.

Permanent Oxygenation of Earth’s Atmosphere Occurred Later than Previously Thought

Apr 6, 2021 by News Staff

Oxygen levels fluctuated dramatically for about 200 million years after the start of the Great Oxidation Event, with permanent atmospheric oxygenation...

It’s raining on Titan. Image credit: David A. Hardy, AstroArt / NASA.

Raindrops are Remarkably Similar across Different Planetary Atmospheres, Study Says

Apr 6, 2021 by News Staff

A new study published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets is a first step toward a generalized theory of how precipitation and condensible...

Hue et al. discovered faint aurora features likely triggered by charged particles coming from the edge of Jupiter’s massive magnetosphere; this occurrence, shown in the false color series of images recorded 30 seconds apart (red panels), displays the characteristically ring-like emissions, expanding rapidly over time. Image credit: NASA / SWRI / JPL-Caltech / V. Hue / G.R. Gladstone / B. Bonfond.

Juno Spots Faint Auroral Rings on Jupiter

Mar 30, 2021 by News Staff

Planetary scientists using data from the Ultraviolet Spectrograph (UVS) aboard NASA’s Juno spacecraft have discovered expanding emission circles of ultraviolet...

Ultra-Short-Period Sub-Neptune Found Orbiting TOI-1634

Mar 29, 2021 by Natali Anderson

Using data from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and the HARPS-N spectrograph at the 3.6-m Telescopio Nazionale Galileo, astronomers...

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