All articles tagged with #planetary atmospheres
A rare brown dwarf nicknamed 'The Accident' has provided the first detection of silane, a silicon-based molecule, revealing new insights into the atmospheric chemistry of giant planets and brown dwarfs, and suggesting that the early universe had less oxygen, allowing silicon to bond with hydrogen instead.
A NASA study using the James Webb Space Telescope discovered silane in a peculiar brown dwarf called 'The Accident,' shedding light on the elusive presence of silicon compounds in Jupiter and Saturn's atmospheres and offering insights into planetary chemistry and formation history.
Voyager 2's 1979 flyby provided the first detailed study of Jupiter's Great Red Spot, revealing its massive size, dynamic structure, and longevity, which continues to challenge our understanding of planetary storms, although its size and appearance are still changing today.
Space itself is silent due to the vacuum, but sound can exist in various forms within celestial objects and atmospheres, such as pressure waves from black holes, gas clouds, and planetary atmospheres, which can be converted into audible sounds for study. These sounds reveal important information about the universe and planetary conditions, despite being inaudible to human ears.
Scientists have discovered that magnetic tornadoes on Jupiter are responsible for creating massive Earth-sized storms, appearing as dark ovals in the planet's atmosphere. These storms are driven by powerful magnetic vortices near Jupiter's poles, which stir the atmosphere and create dense cloud patches. This finding, based on data from the Hubble Space Telescope, provides new insights into Jupiter's atmospheric and magnetic dynamics, offering a deeper understanding of weather systems on other gas giants and exoplanets with strong magnetic fields.
New observations from the James Webb Space Telescope suggest that the unusually low methane levels in the atmosphere of the exoplanet WASP-107 b may explain its "puffy" nature. The findings indicate that the planet's atmosphere is inflated due to high internal temperatures and tidal heating from its star, rather than requiring exotic formation theories. This research, combined with previous Hubble data, provides new insights into the atmospheric dynamics and composition of this lightweight, marshmallow-like planet.
A new study suggests that the exoplanets in the Trappist-1 system may be more habitable than previously thought. Previous models indicated that the planets' water would have evaporated due to the star's hotter past, making it unlikely for life to exist. However, a new modeling technique that takes into account actual atmospheric conditions suggests that a significant amount of water may have survived within the rocks, allowing for the possibility of liquid oceans and potential life on these planets. These findings have implications for the search for life outside our solar system, as small cool stars like Trappist-1 are common in the Milky Way galaxy.
The Hubble Space Telescope has captured images of Jupiter and Uranus, showing changes in their weather and seasons over time. Uranus has a peculiar, tilted axis that causes one hemisphere to be without sunlight for about 42 years at a time. In November 2022, Uranus' north pole had a large off-white circle caused by a thickened photochemical haze, while Jupiter's Great Red Spot was observed to be shrinking. Scientists are using Hubble to better understand the atmospheric dynamics and evolution of these outer planets.