Eruption of the Raikoke Volcano, Seen From Area
The Raikoke Volcano, dormant for a very long time, has awoken from its slumber. The volcanic island is in the Kuril Island chain, near the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia. Unlike its more volcanically active neighbours, Raikoke has been dormant since 1924. Thanks to astronauts on the International Space Station, we have gorgeous photos of the…
Habitability of Planets Will Depend Upon Their Interiors
A lot of the headlines and discussion around the habitability of exoplanets is focused on their proximity to their star and on the presence of water. It makes sense, because those are severely limiting factors. But those planetary characteristics are really just a starting point for the habitable/not habitable discussion. What happens in a planet’s…
The Great Exoplanet Bake-Off: Why NASA Made an Oven-Fresh Alien Environment...
Hot Jupiters are gas giants that orbit extremely closely to their host suns. Scientists have identified a few dozen planets like this in distant solar systems, thanks in part to their hazy atmospheres. Now, a NASA team has recreated a hot Jupiter atmosphere here on Earth, using a very, very hot oven. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Scientists…
Why Does Earth Have an Environment?
Earth's atmosphere is enormous, so far reaching that it even affects the International Space Station's route. But how did this giant gaseous envelope form? That is, why does Earth have an atmosphere? In short, our atmosphere is here because of gravity. When Earth formed, about 4.5 billion years ago, the molten planet barely had an…
Our Environment Is So Huge It Tickles the Moon
Earth's geocorona seen from the moon during the 1972 Apollo 16 mission. Credit: NASA The wispy outermost layer of Earth's atmosphere extends much deeper into space than scientists realized — deep enough that the moon orbits through it. Earth's geocorona is a sparse, little-understood collection of hydrogen atoms loosely bound by gravity to our planet.…
Did You Know that the Earth Loses Numerous Hundred Lots Of...
Scientists have known for some time that Earth’s atmosphere loses several hundred tons of oxygen each day. They understand how this oxygen loss happens on Earth’s night side, but they’re not sure how it happens on the day side. They do know one thing though; they happen during auroras. According to a press release from…
This Is How Astronomy Is Lastly Defeating Its Best Enemy: Earth’s...
First light, on April 26, 2016, of the 4LGST. This is presently the most advanced adaptive optics system in use aboard a modern observatory, and helps astronomers produce, in many ways, superior-quality images to what even a space-based observatory like Hubble can obtain.ESO/F. Kamphues One of the most profoundly remarkable properties about our atmosphere is…
Noctilucent Clouds Perform Delicate Dance for NASA’s Balloon-Cam
Noctilucent clouds are one of the atmosphere’s most ethereal natural wonders. They form high in the mesosphere, about 80 km (50 mi) above the Earth’s surface, and are rarely seen. In July, 2018, NASA launched a five-day balloon mission, called PMC (Polar Mesospheric Clouds) Turbo, to observe them and photograph them. Noctilucent clouds are more…
Radiant Blue Clouds Ripple at Edge of Earth’s Environment (Video)
A NASA long-duration balloon mission observed glowing blue clouds that ripple at the edge of Earth's atmosphere. The mission aims to help researchers learn about how energy transfers through the atmosphere's layers. The phenomenon, called noctilucent clouds or polar mesospheric clouds (PMCs), occurs 50 miles (80 kilometers) above Earth's poles during the summer just after sunset. The…
