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Galaxies fed by funnels of fuel

(Phys.org) —Computer simulations of galaxies growing over billions of years have revealed a likely scenario for how they feed: a cosmic version of swirly straws.

Space & Earth - Astronomy

1 hour ago

5 / 5 (1)

2 |

Scientists determine activation barrier in ammonia-sulfuric acid clusters that could lead to cloud formation

(Phys.org) —Ammonia must overcome an energy barrier to join sulfuric acid and water to create clusters that can lead to cloud formation, according to scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory ...

Chemistry - Materials Science

11 hours ago

not rated yet

0 |

Very Large Telescope celebrates 15 years of success

(Phys.org) —With this new view of a spectacular stellar nursery ESO is celebrating 15 years of the Very Large Telescope—the world's most advanced optical instrument. This picture reveals thick clumps ...

Space & Earth - Astronomy

May 23, 2013

not rated yet

Cloud

A cloud is a visible mass of droplets or frozen crystals suspended in the atmosphere above the surface of the Earth or another planetary body. A cloud is also a visible mass attracted by gravity, such as masses of material in space called interstellar clouds and nebulae. Clouds are studied in the nephology or cloud physics branch of meteorology.

On Earth the condensing substance is typically water vapor, which forms small droplets or ice crystals, typically 0.01 mm in diameter. When surrounded by billions of other droplets or crystals they become visible as clouds. Dense deep clouds exhibit a high reflectance (70% to 95%) throughout the visible range of wavelengths. They thus appear white, at least from the top. Cloud droplets tend to scatter light efficiently, so that the intensity of the solar radiation decreases with depth into the gases, hence the gray or even sometimes dark appearance at the base. Thin clouds may appear to have acquired the color of their environment or background and clouds illuminated by non-white light, such as during sunrise or sunset, may appear colored accordingly. In the near-infrared range, clouds look darker because the water that constitutes the cloud droplets strongly absorbs solar radiation at those wavelengths.

This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA

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