Atmosphere
Extremely Hot Exoplanets Can Have Extreme Weather, Like Clouds of Aluminum Oxide and Titanium Rain
Thanks to the success of the Kepler mission, we know that there are multitudes of exoplanets of a type called…
The Coast of Antarctica is Starting to Turn Green
The Antarctic Peninsula is the northernmost part of Antarctica, and has the mildest climate on the continent. In January, the…
Astronomers Continue to Analyze Pluto’s Atmosphere
When NASA's New Horizons spacecraft flew past Pluto, studying the atmosphere was a key scientific objective. Most of what we…
Spacecraft and Ground Telescopes Work Together to Give us Stunning New Pictures of Jupiter
It's difficult to imagine the magnitude of storms on Jupiter. The gas giant's most visible atmospheric feature, the Great Red…
Astronomers Can Actually See the Clouds and Weather on Brown Dwarf 6.5 Light-Years Away
Brown dwarfs are in a tough spot. Not quite a star, not quite a planet, they occupy a place between…
The Atmosphere On Venus Rotates Faster than the Planet, and Now Astronomers Think They Know Why
Venus is unique—almost—in our Solar System because it's what's known as a "super-rotator." That means that Venus' atmosphere rotates faster…
Worlds With Hydrogen in Their Atmospheres Could Be the Perfect Place to Search for Life
We're waiting patiently for telescopes like the James Webb Space Telescope to see first light, and one of the reasons…
There Might Be Dust Devils On Titan Too
Saturn's moon Titan is alone among the Solar System's moons. It's the only one with any atmosphere to speak of.…
Astronomers Measure the Wind Speed on a Brown Dwarf for the First Time. Spoiler: Insanely Fast
In some ways, brown dwarfs are nature's stellar oddballs. A lot of stars exhibit strange behaviour at different times in…
Because of Coronavirus Lockdowns, Europe is Having the Same Drop in Pollution that we Saw in China
The pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus is creating all kinds of chaos for human society. But for the dear…