Unlike Earth's atmosphere, Jupiter's "sky" hosts magnificent shades of orange, white, brown and blue.
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Is the sky blue on other planets, like on Earth? What is an atmosphere, and do other planets have one? – Charlie, age 10
Before I get too excited talking about the atmospheres of other planets, first we have to talk about what an atmosphere actually is.
The atmosphere is normally the outermost layer of a planet. On rocky worlds like Earth it is usually the lightest and thinnest layer.
Not to change the topic here:
Is Pluto a planet? Ninety years later, no one agrees
You'd expect kids all over America to howl. Much as they did in 2006 when Pluto was demoted, by the International Astronomical Union, from the official list of planets.
Pluto was discovered 90 years ago Wednesday, on Feb. 18, 1930. But 14 years ago, it was reclassified as a "dwarf planet." From now on, the IAU decreed in 2006, there would be only eight planets.
They had, many would agree, science on their side. But science is one thing — and a million sentimental kids and parents who grew up with Pluto is another.
'Planetary simulator' could help identify habitable alien worlds | Space
And that's where climate models come into play. By tweaking an Earth model, scientists developed ROCKE-3D, a "planetary simulator." They can feed different combinations of exoplanet characteristics into the model and then see what happens in the atmosphere and how the results might affect habitability.
For example, based on what scientists know now about Proxima b , which orbits in the nearest star system to Earth, they suspect the planet is tidally locked. But ROCKE-3D analysis suggested that, depending on other details of the world, clouds could cluster on the permanently sunny side of the planet, making the temperature less scalding.
Bad Astronomy | Star clusters can disrupt planetary systems, tossing planets into black holes
As I write this, over 4,100 exoplanets — planets orbiting other stars — have been discovered , with more found nearly every day. The first was announced in 1992 and things progressed slowly at first, but we now have dedicated space missions looking for them, and that total number has and will continue increase a lot .
Nearly all these planets have been found orbiting "field" stars, ones that are on their own (or in a binary system) in the galaxy. Out of all of the exoplanets we know of, only about 30 are orbiting stars in clusters — groups of thousands of stars or more held together by their own gravity .
While you're here, how about this:
Newborn giant planet discovered 330 light-years away - CNN
(CNN) Most planets found by astronomers are "old" -- they're fully formed after millions of years pulling together elements around their star.
Pluto’s mysterious ‘beating heart’ controls the planet’s winds
There is a debate in the scientific community over whether Pluto should be a planet again. But a new study affirms that the dwarf planet’s “beating heart” is impacting its atmospheric circulation patterns.
The research notes that the heart-shaped structure, known as Tombaugh Regio, is in charge of the wind patterns on the dwarf planet. Much of it comes from the left part of the structure (known as Sputnik Planitia), which causes nitrogen winds to blow. Nitrogen is the majority of Pluto’s atmosphere, combined with carbon monoxide and methane. During the day, the nitrogen ice warms and turns into vapor, but by night, it condenses and reforms as ice.
What are dwarf planets?
'Baby giant planet' discovered just 330 light-years from Earth | Fox News
It might not be the same as finding Baby Yoda or "Baby Shark," but scientists have discovered a "baby giant planet " just 330 light-years from Earth .
Known as 2MASS 1155-7919 b, the exoplanet has a mass just 10 times the size of Jupiter , the largest planet in the Solar System. It orbits a star that is 5 million years old at 600 times the distance the Earth orbits the Sun, researchers said in a study published in the journal Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society .
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