Atmosphere
hideAn atmosphere (from Greek ατμός - atmos, 'vapor' + σφαίρα - sphaira, 'sphere') is a layer of gases that may surround a material body of sufficient mass, by the gravity of the body, and are retained for a longer duration if gravity is high and the atmosphere's temperature is low. Some planets consist mainly of various gases, but only their outer layer is their atmosphere (see gas giants).
The term stellar atmosphere describes the outer region of a star, and typically includes the portion starting from the opaque photosphere outwards. Relatively low-temperature stars may form compound molecules in their outer atmosphere. Earth's atmosphere, which contains oxygen used by most organisms for respiration and carbon dioxide used by plants, algae and cyanobacteria for photosynthesis, also protects living organisms from genetic damage by solar ultraviolet radiation. Its current composition is the product of billions of years of biochemical modification of the paleoatmosphere by living organisms.
For more information about Atmosphere, read the full article at
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News tagged with atmosphere
Cassini Captures Ghostly Dance of Saturn's Northern Lights (w/ Video)
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Nov 24, 2009 |
4.9 / 5 (10) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- In the first video showing the auroras above the northern latitudes of Saturn, Cassini has spotted the tallest known "northern lights" in the solar system, flickering in shape and brightness ...
A bubbling ball of gas (w/ Video)
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Nov 11, 2009 |
4.9 / 5 (18) |
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The Sun is a bubbling mass. Packages of gas rise and sink, lending the sun its grainy surface structure, its granulation. Dark spots appear and disappear, clouds of matter dart up - and behind the whole thing ...
Carbon Atmosphere Discovered on Neutron Star
Nov 04, 2009 |
4.7 / 5 (19) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Evidence for a thin veil of carbon has been found on the neutron star in the Cassiopeia A supernova remnant. This discovery, made with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, resolves a ten-year ...
Rich Ore Deposits Linked to Ancient Atmosphere
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Nov 19, 2009 |
4.3 / 5 (3) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Much of our planet's mineral wealth was deposited billions of years ago when Earth's chemical cycles were different from today's. Using geochemical clues from rocks nearly 3 billion years old, a group of ...
Warmer means windier on world's biggest lake
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Nov 15, 2009 |
3.8 / 5 (6) |
0
Rising water temperatures are kicking up more powerful winds on Lake Superior, with consequences for currents, biological cycles, pollution and more on the world's largest lake and its smaller brethren.
A Tale of Planetary Woe (w/ Video)
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Nov 11, 2009 |
4.2 / 5 (11) |
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Once upon a time — roughly four billion years ago — Mars was warm and wet, much like Earth. Liquid water flowed on the Martian surface in long rivers that emptied into shallow seas. A thick atmosphere blanketed ...
'Ultra-primitive' particles found in comet dust
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Nov 02, 2009 |
4.9 / 5 (9) |
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Dust samples collected by high-flying aircraft in the upper atmosphere have yielded an unexpectedly rich trove of relicts from the ancient cosmos, report scientists from the Carnegie Institution. The stratospheric ...
Solar winds triggered by magnetic fields
Nov 02, 2009 |
4.3 / 5 (4) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Solar wind generated by the sun is probably driven by a process involving powerful magnetic fields, according to a new study led by UCL (University College London) researchers based on the ...
Climate experts debate strategies for reducing atmospheric carbon and future warming
Nov 25, 2009 |
2.6 / 5 (13) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Reducing carbon dioxide to safe levels may require extracting carbon from the air, says Cornell climate researcher.
Mankind using Earth's resources at alarming rate
Nov 24, 2009 |
3.5 / 5 (22) |
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Humanity would need five Earths to produce the resources needed if everyone lived as profligately as Americans, according to a report issued Tuesday.
STAR TRAK for November: Mars is prominent again
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Nov 02, 2009 |
4 / 5 (2) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Pumpkin-colored Mars will return to prominence during November, rising shortly before midnight at the beginning of the month and more than two hours earlier by month's end. The orange planet ...
3 Questions: Sara Seager on searching for Earth-like planets
Nov 23, 2009 |
3.3 / 5 (3) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- MIT planetary scientist Sara Seager has been studying exoplanets — planets circling stars other than the sun — for many years.
Distal Rampart of Crater in Chryse Planitia
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Nov 13, 2009 |
5 / 5 (1) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Impact craters on Mars are kind of neat. Many of them look very different than impact craters seen on Earth's moon or Mercury. Fresh lunar and Mercurian craters have ejecta blankets that look ...
Texas A&M prof to predict weather on Mars
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Nov 04, 2009 |
not rated yet |
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Is there such a thing as "weather" on Mars? There are some doubts, considering the planet's atmosphere is only 1 percent as dense as that of the Earth. Mars, however, definitely has clouds, drastically low temperatures and ...
NRL sensor provides critical space weather observations
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Nov 03, 2009 |
not rated yet |
0
Launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., aboard an United Launch Alliance Atlas V launch vehicle, Oct. 18, 2009, the Special Sensor Ultraviolet Limb Imager (SSULI) developed by NRL's Space Science ...
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