Science News for Kids

Publication of the Society for Science & the Public

Skip to main content

Explore:

Tag Archives: atmosphere

Out-of-this-world atmospheres

By Stephen Ornes / March 29, 2013

This illustration depicts the planet HR 8799c (foreground) orbiting its star. Two other planets in the system can also be seen in the drawing.
Credit: Image courtesy of Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics; Mediafarm

Light from a distant, giant world offers clues to the gases in its atmosphere

Posted in Space | Tagged astronomy, atmosphere, Ben Oppenheimer, Earth, exoplanets, getinvolved, HR 8799, infrared, Jonathan Fortney, light, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Neptune, planets, Quinn Konopacky, radiation, Santa Cruz, Saturn, Smithsonian Institution, space, spectral lines, spectrometry, topstories, University of California, University of Toronto

The high life

By Douglas Fox / November 28, 2012

Clouds are full of living microscopic organisms, not just bits of dust and soot. Some scientists believe that germs living inside clouds might sometimes trigger rain or snow. Credit: Douglas Fox

The sky is full of microscopic life, some of which might even trigger rain or snow

Posted in Weather & Climate | Tagged air, aliens from space, atmosphere, bacteria, biological ice nucleators, Brent Christner, cloud condensation nuclei, cloud seeding, clouds, crystallization, David Barber, dust clouds, Erwinia, feature, fungi, Gary Franc, Gobi Desert, ice crystals, Kimberly Prather, Louisiana State University, Norman Lockyer Observatory, ocean bubbles, photographic plates, pollen, potato blight, rain, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, sea salt, snow, solar wind, soot, topstories, transatlantic dust, University of Wyoming, Venus, water droplets, wave tanks, winds