Questions tagged [planetary-atmosphere]

Atmospheres of planets, moons, and other solar system bodies excluding stars. For those, use "stellar-atmosphere" instead. For influences of Earth's atmosphere on astronomical observations use "atmospheric-effects". For other questions about the Earth's atmosphere, Earth Science SE is probably the right site. https://earthscience.stackexchange.com/

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How does Titan maintain its atmosphere?

Titan, which is smaller than Mars, has an atmosphere but Mars is not able to maintain its atmosphere. Even Luna (the Moon) doesn't have an atmosphere. Why is Titan able to hold an atmosphere, despite being smaller than Mars?
Strikers
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Does Ceres have an exosphere similar to the Moon?

Thinking about the question and answers for Does the Moon have any oxygen in its atmosphere? begs the question, despite being considerably smaller than the Moon and further away from the sun, does Ceres have a similar atmosphere as the Moon?
user8
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Could the earth's atmosphere have been partially stripped by a passing rogue planet?

I am involved in the fight between palaeontologists and aerodynamicists on the theoretical flight capabilities of the largest pterosaurs (who reached their climax in the Cretaceous and then disappeared at the K/T extinction event). Is it possible…
user782
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What are the conditions for an ionosphere to form?

What are the conditions for an ionosphere to form on a given planet? Factors I could think of are Class and age of the star the planet orbits Distance to said star Density and composition of the planet's atmosphere
Hackworth
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Why do objects burn when they enter earth's atmosphere?

Why do all objects burn when they enter our atmosphere? is this because of our atmosphere composition? and does this happen on other planets as well?
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Oxygen in a methane atmosphere akin to methane in oxygen atmosphere?

If we assume a planet the size of Earth with an equally dense atmosphere of nitrogen and methane, rather than oxygen, and it's in the goldilocks zone. Would a hypothetical alien species be able to use oxygen for lanterns and stoves the same way we…
simontemplar
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What are the scale heights of the atmospheres of the Solar System worlds?

What causes the relative scale heights of the atmospheres in the Solar System? In various scientific contexts, a scale height, usually denoted by the capital letter H, is a distance over which a quantity decreases by a factor of e (the base of…
M. A. Golding
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How does one find the electric conductivy of a planet's atmosphere?

I am working on an undergraduate project in which we study shaped structures in the atmosphere of the gas giants. We are investigating whether the magnetic field is the source of the instability generating the observed shaped structures. We…
user31132
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Venus Atmosphere Color

I want to ask what color is the Venusian atmosphere without the presence of dense clouds for our human vision? I searched for this question, and did not find a suitable answer. Everywhere they write about the color of the sky Venus already in the…
Mikee
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How do solar winds affect the atmospheric composition and density of planets?

Here is a bit of a newbie question, if you please. The sun is constantly ejecting small particles via solar winds that come into contact with planets and other objects in our solar system. Do these particles contribute to the planets's atmospheres?…
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What are the real conditions for the creation of an atmosphere/loss of an existing atmosphere?

Overview: Taking a planet Ganymede for example (moon, technically I suppose). Ganymede is huge (well, in contrast to other bodies) and I've noticed a pattern between larger bodies and atmospheres. Usually it seems that the larger a body is, the more…
Magic Octopus Urn
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Can IR sensitive cameras read signals from Venus's surface emissions?

This question got me thinking about this. I know that we measure the Earth's surface temperature by satellite (perhaps somewhat inaccurately, but it's done all the same). Using Venus as an example, can we see see evidence of Venus' 800 degree…
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What is it that distinguishes one atmospheric layer from another?

The atmosphere of a planetary body (assuming it has an atmosphere) is described as being made up of distinct layers. For example, Earth, Saturn and Jupiter all have a stratosphere and a troposphere. What is it that defines where one layer stops…
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How to calculate greenhouse effect on a planet (newbie)

I built a calculator to calculate a planet's atmospheric pressure at an altitude with the formula below. How does greenhouse effect relate to the formula above? How to calculate it? I compared the results with the in-game data including same input…