News tagged with upper atmosphere
Obama looking at cooling air to fight warming
(AP) -- Tinkering with Earth's climate to chill runaway global warming - a radical idea once dismissed out of hand - is being discussed by the White House as a potential emergency option, the president's ...
Apr 08, 2009 |
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NASA's New Eye on the Sun Delivers Stunning First Images (w/ Video)
(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's recently launched Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO, is returning early images that confirm an unprecedented new capability for scientists to better understand our sun’s dynamic processes. ...
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Apr 21, 2010 |
5 / 5 (29) |
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New Images Indicate Object Hits Jupiter
(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have found evidence that another object has bombarded Jupiter, exactly 15 years after the first impacts by the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9.
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Jul 21, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (24) |
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New technique helps search for another Earth (Update)
The quest to find another world that sustains life has been boosted by a technique that should let less expensive ground-based telescopes join the search, a study said on Wednesday.
Feb 03, 2010 |
4.9 / 5 (23) |
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Could solar wind power Earth?
(PhysOrg.com) -- As we strive to find sources of alternative energy, a number of researchers continue to look to what we consider the ultimate in renewable energy -- the sun. However, on earth creating efficient ...
Technology / Energy & Green Tech
Oct 04, 2010 |
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Scientists discover surprise in Earth's upper atmosphere
(PhysOrg.com) -- UCLA atmospheric scientists have discovered a previously unknown basic mode of energy transfer from the solar wind to the Earth's magnetosphere. The research, federally funded by the National ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Sep 10, 2009 |
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Stratospheric Water Vapor is a Global Warming Wild Card
A 10 percent drop in water vapor ten miles above Earth’s surface has had a big impact on global warming, say researchers in a study published online January 28 in the journal Science. The findings might help e ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Jan 28, 2010 |
4.3 / 5 (21) |
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Pentagon successfully tests hypersonic flying bomb
The Pentagon on Thursday held a successful test flight of a flying bomb that travels faster than the speed of sound and will give military planners the ability to strike targets anywhere in the world in less than a hour.
Nov 17, 2011 |
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Saturn System Moves Oxygen From Enceladus to Titan
(PhysOrg.com) -- Complex interactions between Saturn and its satellites have led scientists using NASA's Cassini spacecraft to a comprehensive model that could explain how oxygen may end up on the surface ...
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Jul 02, 2010 |
4.5 / 5 (18) |
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Zapping Titan-like atmosphere with UV rays creates life precursors
The first experimental evidence showing how atmospheric nitrogen can be incorporated into organic macromolecules is being reported by a University of Arizona team.
Jun 29, 2010 |
4.7 / 5 (17) |
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Life possible on 'large parts' of Mars: study
Australian scientists who modelled conditions on Mars to examine how much of the red planet was habitable said that "large regions" could sustain life.
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Dec 12, 2011 |
4.8 / 5 (16) |
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Sir Richard Branson All Fired Up With Latest Rocket Motor Test
Virgin Galactic owned by Sir Richard Branson completed a successful test on May 28, 2009 of its hybrid nitrous oxide motor designed by Scaled Composites and a subcontractor Sierra Nevada Corporation. The ...
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
May 31, 2009 |
4.9 / 5 (15) |
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The lower atmosphere of Pluto revealed
(PhysOrg.com) -- "With lots of methane in the atmosphere, it becomes clear why Pluto's atmosphere is so warm," says Emmanuel Lellouch, lead author of the paper reporting the results.
Mar 02, 2009 |
4.9 / 5 (15) |
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Scientists pinpoint the 'edge of space'
Where does space begin? Scientists at the University of Calgary have created a new instrument that is able to track the transition between the relatively gentle winds of Earth's atmosphere and the more violent flows of charged ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Apr 09, 2009 |
4.7 / 5 (14) |
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The secret life of water at very low temperatures
The secret life of water just got weirder. For years water has been known to exist in 15 phases -- not just the merry threesome of solid, liquid and gas from grade school science. Now, University of Utah chemists ...
Jun 16, 2010 |
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Earth's atmosphere
The Earth's atmosphere is a layer of gases surrounding the planet Earth that is retained by the Earth's gravity. It has a mass of about five quadrillion metric tons. Dry air contains roughly (by volume) 78.08% nitrogen, 20.95% oxygen, 0.93% argon, 0.038% carbon dioxide, and trace amounts of other gases. Air also contains a variable amount of water vapor, on average around 1%. The atmosphere protects life on Earth by absorbing ultraviolet solar radiation, warming the surface through heat retention (greenhouse effect), and reducing temperature extremes between day and night.
There is no definite boundary between the atmosphere and outer space. It slowly becomes thinner and fades into space. An altitude of 120 km (75 mi) marks the boundary where atmospheric effects become noticeable during atmospheric reentry. The Kármán line, at 100 km (62 mi), is also frequently regarded as the boundary between atmosphere and outer space. Three quarters of the atmosphere's mass is within 11 km (6.8 mi; 36,000 ft) of the surface.
For more information about Earth's atmosphere, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
