Related topics: carbon dioxide , earth
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
Wikipedia.
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News tagged with atmosphere
Astronomers Find Super-Earth Using Amateur, Off-the-Shelf Technology (w/ Video)
Dec 16, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Astronomers announced today that they have discovered a "super-Earth" orbiting a red dwarf star 40 light-years from Earth. They found the distant planet with a small fleet of ground-based ...
Scientist uncovers relics of ancient cosmos
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Dec 14, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A University of Manchester scientist, working as part of an international team, has uncovered an unexpectedly rich trove of relicts from the ancient cosmos.
Earth's atmosphere came from outer space, find scientists
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Dec 10, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- The gases which formed the Earth's atmosphere - and probably its oceans - did not come from inside the Earth but from outer space, according to a study by University of Manchester and University ...
Life on Mars theory boosted by new methane study
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Dec 08, 2009 |
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Scientists have ruled out the possibility that methane is delivered to Mars by meteorites, raising fresh hopes that the gas might be generated by life on the red planet, in research published tomorrow in Earth an ...
Cassini Captures Ghostly Dance of Saturn's Northern Lights (w/ Video)
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Nov 24, 2009 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 ...
Astronomers Detect Sodium Gas Ejected by Lunar Impact
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Oct 12, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Boston University astronomers announced today observations of a cloud of sodium gas ejected from the Moon’s surface as a result of the NASA impact experiment that was part of its Lunar Reconnaissance ...
Astronomers capture spectacular meteor footage and images (w/ Video)
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Oct 07, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Astronomers from The University of Western Ontario in London, Canada have released footage of a meteor that was approximately 100 times brighter than a full moon. The meteor lit up the skies ...
Cloudy with a chance of pebble showers: Simulation suggests rocky exoplanet has bizarre atmosphere
Sep 29, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- So accustomed are we to the sunshine, rain, fog and snow of our home planet that we find it next to impossible to imagine a different atmosphere and other forms of precipitation.
Scientists discover surprise in Earth's upper atmosphere
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Sep 10, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- UCLA atmospheric scientists have discovered a previously unknown basic mode of energy transfer from the solar wind to the Earth's magnetosphere. The research, federally funded by the National ...
Scientists propose new hypothesis on the origin of life
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Sep 04, 2009 |
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The Miller-Urey experiment, conducted by chemists Stanley Miller and Harold Urey in 1953, is the classic experiment on the origin of life. It established that the early Earth atmosphere, as they pictured it, ...
Lightning’s Mirror Image, Only Much Bigger (w/ Video)
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Aug 23, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- With a very lucky shot, scientists have captured a one-second image and the electrical fingerprint of huge lightning that flowed 40 miles upward from the top of a storm.
New Images Indicate Object Hits Jupiter
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Jul 21, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have found evidence that another object has bombarded Jupiter, exactly 15 years after the first impacts by the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9.
Plants Save the Earth from an Icy Doom (w/ Podcast)
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Jul 01, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Fifty million years ago, the North and South Poles were ice-free and crocodiles roamed the Arctic. Since then, a long-term decrease in the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere has cooled the Earth. ...
