Aeronomy is the research area focused on the physical and chemical processes governing the upper atmospheres of planets, including Earth, typically from the mesosphere upward through the thermosphere, ionosphere, and exosphere. It examines energy inputs from solar radiation, charged particles, and magnetospheric coupling, and their roles in driving ionization, excitation, heating, and atmospheric escape. Aeronomy integrates fluid dynamics, plasma physics, radiative transfer, and atmospheric chemistry to model composition, temperature, density, and ionization structure. The field underpins understanding of space weather impacts, ionospheric variability, atmospheric coupling across altitudes, and comparative aeronomy of other planetary bodies and exoplanets.
Researchers at Northumbria University have used the most powerful space telescope ever built to answer one of the longest-standing puzzles in planetary science—why does Saturn appear to spin at a different speed depending ...
Astronomy
Mar 27, 2026
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When we look up at the night sky and see a satellite glide past, we might not consider climate change or the ozone layer. Space may feel separate from the environmental systems that sustain life on Earth. But increasingly, ...
Space Exploration
Feb 26, 2026
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33
Antarctica plays a crucial role in Earth's climate system by reflecting solar radiation back into space. The large white ice surfaces and clouds play a decisive role in this process. However, how clouds actually form in Antarctica, ...
Earth Sciences
Feb 20, 2026
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Space junk returning to Earth is introducing metal pollution to the pristine upper atmosphere as it burns up on re-entry, a new study has found.
Space Exploration
Feb 20, 2026
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70
For the first time, an international team of astronomers have mapped the vertical structure of Uranus's upper atmosphere, uncovering how temperature and charged particles vary with height across the planet. Using Webb's NIRSpec ...
Astronomy
Feb 19, 2026
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When part of a SpaceX rocket re-entered Earth's atmosphere exactly a year ago, it created a spectacuglar fireball that streaked across Europe's skies, delighting stargazers and sending a team of scientists rushing toward ...
Space Exploration
Feb 19, 2026
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213
The dazzling lights of the aurora are created when high-energy particles from space collide with Earth's atmosphere. While scientists have long understood this process, one big mystery remained: What powers the electric fields ...
Planetary Sciences
Jan 28, 2026
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33
A new NASA mission will capture images of Earth's invisible "halo," the faint light given off by our planet's outermost atmospheric layer, the exosphere, as it morphs and changes in response to the sun. Understanding the ...
Astronomy
Sep 19, 2025
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137
Between 50 and 100 kilometers (30–60 miles) above the Earth's surface lies a largely unstudied stretch of the atmosphere, called the mesosphere. It's too high for airplanes and weather balloons, too low for satellites, and ...
Space Exploration
Aug 13, 2025
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175
Like Earth, Mars is surrounded by an ionosphere—the part of its upper atmosphere where radiation from the sun knocks electrons off of atoms and molecules, creating charged particles. The Martian ionosphere is complex and ...
Planetary Sciences
Jun 23, 2025
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