Scientists analysing data gathered by the Cassini spacecraft have confirmed the presence of heavy negative ions in the upper regions of Titan’s atmosphere. These particles may act as organic building blocks for even more complicated molecules and their discovery was completely unexpected because of the chemical composition of the atmosphere (which lacks oxygen and mainly consists of nitrogen... read full post picked by AutumnLotus 8 months ago

Geologists have uncovered evidence of when Earth may have first supported an oxygen-rich atmosphere similar to the one we breathe today. The study suggests that upheavals in the earth’s crust initiated a kind of reverse-greenhouse effect 500 million years ago that cooled the world’s oceans, spawned giant plankton blooms, and sent a burst of oxygen into the atmosphere. picked by AutumnLotus 9 months ago

Two decades of scrutinizing Saturn are finally paying off, as scientists have discovered a wave pattern, or oscillation, in Saturn's atmosphere only visible from Earth every 15 years. picked by AutumnLotus 3 months ago

Scientists have solved a 40-year-old puzzle by identifying the origin of the intense radio waves in the Earth's upper atmosphere that control the dynamics of the Van Allen radiation belts — belts consisting of high-energy electrons that can damage satellites and spacecraft and pose a risk to astronauts performing activities outside their spacecraft. picked by AutumnLotus 5 months ago

Watching the stars set from the surface of the Earth may be a romantic pastime but when a spacecraft does it from orbit, it can reveal hidden details about a planet’s atmosphere. It works by watching stars from space, while they drop behind the atmosphere of a planet under investigation, before disappearing from view below the planet’s horizon. picked by AutumnLotus 9 months ago

Jupiter's volcanic moon Io is veiled by a thin atmosphere, but how much its volcanoes and chunks of frozen gas contribute to its atmosphere has puzzled scientists for decades. The New Horizons spacecraft recently documented the moon's glowing aurora, however, giving researchers a chance to solve the atmospheric mystery. picked by AutumnLotus 9 months ago

Astronomers have recorded heavenly music bellowed out by the Sun’s atmosphere. picked by AutumnLotus 1 year ago

Jupiter's atmosphere froths with violent winds and mega-storms as large as the entire Earth, but a recent spacecraft flyby captured the planet in an "unusually calm period," astronomers said. Calm on Jupiter, however, still makes terrestrial hurricanes look like breezes. picked by AutumnLotus 10 months ago

It used to be called the final frontier - the great unknown only the most prized and powerful technology could conquer.

But now, as these images show, the space beyond our atmosphere has become yet one more place blighted by man-made litter, with potentially devastating results. picked by AutumnLotus 3 months ago

A strange gaseous molecule has been discovered lurking in the atmospheres of both Mars and Venus, scientists announced today, adding that it could affect Venus's hyperactive greenhouse effect. picked by AutumnLotus 10 months ago

Taking a page from Nature herself, a team of researchers developed a method to enhance removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and place it in the Earth's oceans for storage. picked by AutumnLotus 9 months ago

Last month's lunar eclipse not only treated skygazers to a ruddy view of the Moon – it revealed that Earth's atmosphere contains little light-blocking volcanic dust.

Some researchers say the low volcanic dust levels in the atmosphere over the last dozen years could be contributing to global warming, but others dispute the claim. picked by AutumnLotus 5 months ago

Scientists say they have found a workable way of reducing CO2 levels in the atmosphere by adding lime to seawater. And they think it has the potential to dramatically reverse CO2 accumulation in the atmosphere. picked by AutumnLotus 3 days ago

Venus Express has detected the molecule hydroxyl on another planet for the first time. This detection gives scientists an important new tool to unlock the workings of Venus's dense atmosphere. picked by AutumnLotus 2 months ago

CFCs and pollution stored in the atmosphere cause the ozone holes, which are expected to persist for the next couple of decades. picked by hypnotode 2 years ago

Powerful magnetic waves have been confirmed for the first time as major players in the process that makes the sun's atmosphere strangely hundreds of times hotter than its already superhot surface. The magnetic waves — called Alfven waves — can carry enough energy from the sun's active surface to heat its atmosphere, or corona. picked by AutumnLotus 6 months ago

It might not be “the” twilight zone depicted on television many years ago, but a real one has been discovered in the earth’s atmosphere. picked by AutumnLotus 1 year ago

Traces of a distant extrasolar planet's hazy red sunset have been detected for the first time. Astronomers pointed the Hubble Space Telescope at HD 189733b, a gaseous Jupiter-like world about 63 light-years from Earth, as it passed in front of its parent star to catch a glimpse of the planet's atmosphere. picked by AutumnLotus 8 months ago

XMM-Newton has surveyed nearly two hundred stars under formation to reveal, contrary to expectations, how streams of matter fall onto the young stars’ magnetic atmospheres and radiate X-rays. picked by AutumnLotus 1 year ago

National Nuclear Security Administration Laboratory of United States, owns the Z Machine f Sandia's, which is capable to produce a temperature higher than Sun's. Recently has successfully obtained ice from water in just a few nanoseconds. picked by Johnny21J 1 year ago