Tag Archive for 'Stratosphere'

Detections of near-infrared emissions in Saturn’s ionosphere (left) show dark bead-like features embedded within bright aurora; in the stratosphere (right), 500 km below, a lopsided star-pattern extends towards the equator. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Webb / Stallard et al.

Webb Detects Complex Structures in Upper Atmosphere of Saturn

Sep 19, 2025 by News Staff

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA James Webb Space Telescope have detected a series of dark, bead-like and asymmetric star-shaped features in the ionosphere...

These images of Titan, taken by Webb on July 11, 2023 (top row), and the Keck II telescope on July 14, 2023 (bottom row), show methane clouds (white arrows) appearing at different altitudes in Titan’s northern hemisphere. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI / Keck Observatory.

Weather Report from Saturn’s Moon Titan: Partly Cloudy with Occasional Methane Showers

May 14, 2025 by NASA

Using data from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope and the Keck II telescope, astronomers found evidence of cloud convection in the northern hemisphere...

This Webb image of Jupiter shows stunning details of the majestic planet in infrared light. In this image, brightness indicates high altitude. The numerous bright white ‘spots’ and ‘streaks’ are likely very high-altitude cloud tops of condensed convective storms. Aurorae, appearing in red in this image, extend to higher altitudes above both the northern and southern poles of the planet. By contrast, dark ribbons north of the equatorial region have little cloud cover. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI / Ricardo Hueso, UPV / Imke de Pater, UC Berkeley / Thierry Fouchet, Observatory of Paris / Leigh Fletcher, University of Leicester / Michael H. Wong, UC Berkeley / Joseph DePasquale, STScI.

Webb Spots High-Speed Equatorial Jet in Jupiter’s Stratosphere

Oct 19, 2023 by News Staff

The newly-discovered intense (140 m/s) jet is confined to ±3° of Jupiter’s equator, is approximately 4,800 km wide, and is located in the gas giant’s...

Inexpensive and easy to build, data collecting balloons capture infrasound signals in the Earth’s stratosphere. Image credit: NASA.

Enigmatic Infrasound Signals Detected in Earth’s Stratosphere

May 12, 2023 by News Staff

Low frequency sounds can travel vast distances across our planet, carrying information about the events that generated them as well as the medium through...

This image of the Tarantula Nebula was taken by the Super Pressure Balloon Imaging Telescope (SuperBIT). Image credit: NASA / SuperBIT.

SuperBIT Captures Stunning Images of Antennae Galaxies and Tarantula Nebula

Apr 21, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

The Superpressure Balloon-borne Imaging Telescope (SuperBIT) — a collaboration between Durham University, the University of Toronto, Princeton University,...

This schematic shows the layers of Earth’s atmosphere, from the troposphere to the thermosphere. SOFIA observes from within the stratosphere and studied the ratio of main oxygen to heavy oxygen in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere, up to an altitude of about 200 km (124 miles). Image credit: NASA / SOFIA / L. Proudfit.

SOFIA Makes First Detection of Oxygen-18 in Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere of Earth

Mar 8, 2023 by News Staff

In the lower atmosphere of Earth, oxygen contains a higher fraction of the heavy isotope 18O than ocean water does. This enrichment is a signature of biological...

This map shows the size and shape of the ozone hole over the South Pole on October 5, 2022, when it reached its single-day maximum extent for the year. Image credit: Joshua Stevens / NASA’s Earth Observatory.

Antarctic Ozone Hole Continues to Shrink, Researchers Say

Oct 27, 2022 by News Staff

The annual ozone hole over the South Pole reached an average area of 23.2 million km2 (8.9 million square miles) between September 7 and October 13, 2022,...

2020 CD3 is estimated to be only between one and six meters across. Image credit: Jonny Lindner.

Huge All-Season Ozone Hole Discovered over Tropics

Jul 5, 2022 by News Staff

University of Waterloo’s Professor Qing-Bin Lu has discovered a large, all-season ozone hole in the lower stratosphere over the tropics (30 deg N –...

An artist’s impression of 25 hot-Jupiters examined by Changeat et al. Image credit: NASA/ ESA / Hubble / N. Bartmann.

New Study Unravels Mysteries of Hot-Jupiter Exoplanets

Apr 28, 2022 by News Staff

In a study published on April 25, 2022 in the Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, astronomers analyzed archival spectroscopic and photometric data...

An artist’s impression of WASP-121b. Image credit: Engine House VFX.

Hubble Maps Dark Side of Tidally-Locked Ultrahot Jupiter

Feb 23, 2022 by News Staff

Using data collected by the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) infrared spectrograph onboard the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have obtained a detailed...

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...

This image shows an artist’s impression of winds in Jupiter’s stratosphere near the planet’s south pole, with the blue lines representing wind speeds; these lines are superimposed on a real image of Jupiter, taken by the JunoCam imager aboard NASA’s Juno spacecraft. Image credit: ESO / L. Calçada / NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS.

ALMA Detects Strong Winds in Stratosphere of Jupiter

Mar 25, 2021 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have revealed incredibly powerful winds — with speeds of up to 1,450 kmh...

Blue jet: (a) the cloud-top altitude of the storm cell over the South Pacific on February 26, 2019, at 15:10 UTC, derived from the Japanese Himawari meteorological satellite data and from a radio sounding at Tarawa at a distance of approximately 700 km (435 miles); the green curve is the ISS orbit and the red marker its position at 15:10:05 UTC; the black curves identify the full field of view of the cameras projected to the Earth’s surface, and the white square is the cropped image, downloaded from the ISS and shown in (b); black markers are the lightning locations detected by the GLD360 network between 15:10:00 and 15:11:40 UTC; (b) the cropped, downlinked ASIM image (777.4 nm) of the cloud backlit by internal lightning; the source locations of the five blue flash events detected between 15:10:00 and 15:11:35 UTC are shown with colored markers, time progressing from red to yellow. The flash leading to a blue jet is event number 3. Image credit: Neubert et al., doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-03122-6.

Blue Jet Observed from International Space Station

Jan 26, 2021 by News Staff

Using the Atmosphere-Space Interactions Monitor (ASIM) observatory on the International Space Station (ISS), researchers have observed five intense blue...

This view of Titan is among the last images NASA’s Cassini spacecraft sent to Earth before it plunged into the giant planet’s atmosphere. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

Cosmic Rays from beyond Solar System Affect Atmosphere of Titan

Feb 14, 2020 by News Staff

Using data from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), a team of Japanese researchers has found that Galactic cosmic rays affect the...

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

Astronomers Detect Propadiene on Saturn’s Moon Titan

Aug 26, 2019 by Sergio Prostak

Astronomers using the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) have spotted propadiene — a colorless, flammable gas, best known as a fuel for specialized...

This infrared image was recorded by Subaru Telescope’s COMICS instrument. Sinclair et al used red, blue and yellow to infuse this image; regions of the atmosphere that are more yellow and red indicate the hotter areas. This highlights the auroral heating that occurs at Jupiter’s poles, where energy from the solar wind and magnetosphere are deposited. This image was captured on January 12, 2017. Image credit: NAOJ / NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Subaru Telescope Finds Evidence of Auroral Heating at Jupiter’s Poles

Apr 15, 2019 by News Staff

New observations with the Subaru Telescope, a Japanese 8-m telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, show that aurorae at Jupiter’s poles are heating the atmosphere...

Huge Northern Polar Vortex Spotted Forming in Saturn’s Stratosphere

Sep 5, 2018 by News Staff

When NASA’s Cassini spacecraft arrived at Saturn in 2004, the gas giant’s southern hemisphere was enjoying summertime, while the northern was in the...

The hot-Jupiter WASP-18b. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

Astronomers Detect Carbon Monoxide-Rich Upper Atmosphere around Hot-Jupiter WASP-18b

Dec 6, 2017 by News Staff

WASP-18b, a hot-Jupiter exoplanet located approximately 325 light-years from Earth, has a stratosphere that’s loaded with carbon monoxide, but has no...

Toxic Ice Cloud Found in Titan’s Stratosphere

Oct 19, 2017 by News Staff

Planetary researchers with NASA’s Cassini mission have detected a cloud of toxic hybrid ice high above the south pole of Saturn’s hazy moon, Titan. This...

The top of WASP-121b’s atmosphere is heated to a blazing 4,600 degrees Fahrenheit. Image credit: NASA / ESA / G. Bacon, STSci.

Stratosphere Detected around Hot Jupiter WASP-121b

Aug 3, 2017 by News Staff

An international research team led by University of Exeter astronomer Dr. Tom Evans has revealed a stratosphere containing water and possibly oxides of...