Astronomers are testing the tools that might help them keep up with the upcoming storm of exoplanet atmosphere data.
Atmospheres
Water Found in Small, Habitable Zone Planet’s Atmosphere
K2-18b is warm, has an atmosphere, and has water vapor. But it’s no Earth 2.0.
How Mars Lost Steam
Solar winds are not the main culprit in stripping the planet’s atmosphere, a new study suggests.
Rover and Lasers Unlock Clues to Early Martian Atmosphere
Sediments from the Curiosity rover and experiments using tanks of gas and laser beams helped reveal how water continued to flow on Mars after the planet lost its atmospheric carbon dioxide.
Updates on Understanding Mars’s Recent and Present-Day Climate
Mars Workshop on Amazonian and Present-day Climate; Lakewood, Colorado, 18–22 June 2018
Could Life Be Floating in Venus’s Clouds?
If present, microbes could explain evolving patterns in the planet’s atmosphere when observed in ultraviolet light.
How Hot Is Europa? Now There’s a Map for That
The new global map of Europa’s surface heat also highlighted one spot on the moon that is inexplicably cold.
Mars's Atmosphere Matches Earth's Turbulent Nature
Mars is even more like Earth than we thought, according to a statistical analysis of the planet's swirling atmosphere.
What Caused the Sudden Heating of Uranus's Atmosphere?
A recently observed temperature reversal on Uranus may offer a clue to a long-standing mystery: Why are the upper atmospheres of gas giants so hot?
Atmospheres Can Collapse on the Dark Sides of Planets
Planets that orbit close to their stars might lose their atmospheres along with any chance of life, but new models show a way in which these planets may retain their atmospheres and habitability.