Tag Archives: atmospheres

All About Aurorae

Posted on March 5, 2023 by 7smessier45

As the title suggests, our topic for today is Earth’s aurorae (pronounced auh-ror-eye). These stunning displays generally occur in two symmetrical oval rings about the planet’s far northern and southern regions–Earth’s magnetic north and south poles. When they happen in the north, aurorae are often referred to as the northern lights or Aurora Borealis. Likewise, […] Continue reading →

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Why Does Titan Have an Atmosphere?

Posted on March 28, 2020 by Reece Boggs

It’s pretty perplexing as to why Saturn’s moon, Titan, has such a thick atmosphere but a planet like Mars does not. Since the most widely accepted explanation of why Mars has such a thin atmosphere is it losing its magnetosphere as its core cooled and does not contain nearly as much metallic iron has theContinue reading “Why Does Titan Have an Atmosphere?” Continue reading →

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The Geology of Venus: Earth’s “Sister Planet” (Post 3)

Posted on March 24, 2020 by maverickbennett

Even though Venus is not the planet closest to the Sun, it is still the hottest planet in our solar system. This is because the planet’s dense atmosphere, which is composed of thick clouds of carbon dioxide and other gases, prevents heat from the Sun from being released into outer space. We are lucky toContinue reading “The Geology of Venus: Earth’s “Sister Planet” (Post 3)” Continue reading →

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Chemical Composition of Exoplanet Atmospheres

Posted on March 12, 2019 by richardficek

One goal of studying exoplanet atmospheres is to understand its composition and temperature. Specifically, we want to be able to recognize planets that could potentially have atmospheres most similar to Earth’s (with water vapor, oxygen, ozone, and carbon dioxide) – with the main objective being to find planets with strong water features that could support … Continue reading Chemical Composition of Exoplanet Atmospheres → Continue reading →

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Where Did All of Mars’ Water Go?

Posted on March 17, 2018 by Katie

It is currently known that Mars has only a fraction of the atmosphere that Earth has. This could be due to a number reasons ranging from its further distance away from the Earth and its smaller size in comparison to Earth and Venus, however, all terrestrial worlds had something that could have resembled an atmosphere … Continue reading Where Did All of Mars’ Water Go? Continue reading →

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Blog #4: The Atmosphere of Venus

Posted on April 2, 2017 by zhengastronomy

Out of all of planets, the one with the highest surface temperature is Venus clocking in at an average of 864 degrees F1. Despite being millions of miles further from the sun than Mercury, Venus still handily beats out Mercury who “only” averages 800 degrees. You probably already know why this is so, but this … Continue reading Blog #4: The Atmosphere of Venus Continue reading →

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