Tag: atmosphere

  • Nation & World

    Cloudless, Jupiter-like planet discovered

    The first Jupiter-like planet without clouds has been detected by astronomers at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian. Unlike our Jupiter, which takes nearly 12 years to orbit the sun, WASP-62b completes a rotation in just four-and-a-half days.

    2 minutes
    Jupiter-like exoplanet.
  • Nation & World

    Charged air

    For doctoral student Sarah Rugheimer, the study of atmosphere holds deep promise in the search for extrasolar life.

    4 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Mars rover, slightly used, runs fine

    Originally scheduled to operate on the Red Planet’s surface for 90 Martian days, the rover Opportunity has now logged more than 3,500 days, traveled nearly 39 kilometers, and collected a trove of data that scientists have used to study the planet’s early history, particularly any past traces of water.

    4 minutes
  • Nation & World

    U.S. methane emissions exceed government estimates

    Emissions of methane from fossil fuel extraction and refining activities in the United States are nearly five times higher than previous estimates, according to researchers at Harvard University and seven other institutions.

    6 minutes
  • Nation & World

    ‘Warming hole’ delayed climate change

    Climate scientists at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have discovered that particulate pollution in the late 20th century created a “warming hole” over the eastern United States — that is, a cold patch where the effects of global warming were temporarily obscured.

    5 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Illuminating carbon’s climate effects

    Harvard researchers compiled ice and sedimentary core samples collected from dozens of locations around the world, and found evidence that while changes in Earth’s orbit may have touched off a warming trend, increases in CO2 played a far more important role in pushing the planet out of the ice age.

    4 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Tracking the pollution amid the remote

    A national research project led by Harvard scientist Steven Wofsy tries to fill in the blanks of understanding how the Earth’s atmosphere works by crisscrossing the globe by jet, measuring air changes.

    7 minutes
  • Nation & World

    ‘It is within our grasp’

    Answers to questions about life in the universe is “within our grasp,” astronomer Lisa Kaltenegger said at an Origins of Life Initiative forum.

    3 minutes