Roads and the vehicles using them are responsible for 84 per cent of microplastics found in the atmosphere, according to the results of a new study. Researchers from Utah State University examined different sources of atmospheric microplastic pollution found in the western US over a 14 month period. These microscopic pieces of plastic pollution are … Read more
Hot rocky exoplanets may be able to retain a thick atmosphere of water, according to scientists, who say the discovery should help in the search for habitable worlds. University of Chicago and Stanford University researchers created computer models to explore ways hot, rocky worlds could hold on to their atmospheres for a long time. Thousands of … Read more
A small gas exoplanet may have lost its atmosphere billions of years ago, but then gained a second one through volcanic activity, according to astronomers. The planet, GJ 1132 b, is thought to have begun as a gaseous world, similar to Jupiter or Saturn but smaller than Neptune, with a thick hydrogen blanket of atmosphere. … Read more
Exceptionally well conducted by Riccardo Muti, Vienna Philharmonic’s New Year’s Concert 2021 has plenty of atmosphere and is not to be missed By David Mellor for Event Published: 22:01 GMT, 6 February 2021 | Updated: 22:01 GMT, 6 February 2021 New Year’s Concert 2021 Vienna Philharmonic, conducted by Riccardo Muti Sony Classical, out now Rating: … Read more
Scientists have sucked the life out of a theory suggesting Venus could be home to biological organisms. In September, researchers claimed to have detected trace amounts of phosphine gas in the planet’s acidic clouds. Phosphine is often released by microorganisms on Earth that don’t use oxygen to breath, which led scientists to speculate Venus could … Read more
Ruth Langsford and Eamonn Holmes made thinly-veiled digs about killing people and a ‘frosty atmosphere’ during their This Morning hosting duties on Friday – amid the drama caused by their axing from the show. Ruth and her husband Eamonn, both 60, are being replaced on This Morning’s Friday show by Alison Hammond and Dermot O’Leary at some … Read more
NASA’s Juno spacecraft has captured electric blue ‘sprites’ and ‘elves’ dancing in Jupiter’s atmosphere. Such transient luminous events occur on Earth during a thunderstorm, but these are the first to be observed on another world. The bright, unpredictable flashes of lights typically form on our planet about 60 miles above large thunderstorms, creating flares that … Read more
Ancient reserves of the greenhouse gas methane trapped in ice for millions of years in the Arctic Ocean are being released into the atmosphere, researchers claim. The deposits of methane and other gases, dubbed hydrates, have previously been dubbed the ‘sleeping giants of the carbon cycle’. An international research team on a Russian ship spotted … Read more
Earth may have lost up to 60 per cent of its atmosphere in the collision that is thought to have formed the Moon Researchers carried out hundreds of collision simulations on a supercomputer They looked at different impact angles, planet densities and even atmospheres Earth could have lost 10-60 per cent of its atmosphere in an … Read more
Astronomers have found at least 45 planets orbiting distant stars that possess Earth-like qualities including a similar atmosphere and life sustaining liquid water. Experts from Luleå University of Technology, Sweden, created a new way to determine the habitability of these distant worlds by studying their atmosphere. The team found a way to use information on ‘atmospheric … Read more