atmosphere news stories on Newser

MIT Students Snap Space Pics on the Cheap

Rob Quinn — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 04:22:11 CDT

A trio of MIT students managed to take photographs from the edge of space for less than $150, the Guardian reports. The students sent a digital camera and a GPS-equipped mobile phone in a coolbox into the stratosphere by attaching the kit to a helium balloon. They retrieved the photos...

The Latest Ozone Villain: Laughing Gas

Kevin Spak — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 11:54:02 CDT

Nitrous oxide is the new chlorofluorocarbons. A study published today fingers N2O, aka laughing gas, as the most dangerous ozone-depleting gas in the air, Time reports. Nitrous oxide isn’t as dangerous as CFCs, but it’s incredibly common, emitted by everything from fertilizer to sewage treatment plants to cars. “Pretty soon,...

Colossal Chinese Dustball Circles Earth in 13 Days

Rob Quinn — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 03:54:23 CDT

A dust cloud weighing nearly a million tons kicked into the atmosphere by a massive storm in China's Taklamakan desert circled the world almost intact in 13 days, the Telegraph reports. Scientists, who used NASA satellites to track the path of the dustball until it fell apart over the Pacific...

Thawing Arctic Could Set Off Methane Climate Bomb

Nick McMaster — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 16:08:08 CDT

Climate scientists meeting this week in Vienna are contemplating a terrible prospect—the release of billions of tons of methane gas from the Arctic Ocean, Der Spiegel reports. Methane, 20 times more damaging to the atmosphere than carbon dioxide, lies frozen in gas hydrates on the ocean floor, but rising...

Get Ready for a Light Show

Sam Gale Rosen — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 12:39:38 CST

This week's incarnation of the annual Geminid meteor shower should be particularly awe-inspiring, reports National Geographic , because it coincides with dark, moonless sky for the first time since 1996. Skywatchers can expect at least 110 meteors per minute, with the best viewing on Thursday and Friday. The peak will be...

Comet Dust Will Light Sky

Dustin Lushing — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 13:46:10 CDT

Comet debris will light up the sky tomorrow night and Monday morning with shooting stars as Earth passes through the Perseid meteor shower. For the best view, pick a dark spot away from city lights and look east, says the Discovery Channel. "It's going to be a great show," a...

Astronaut Takes Out the Trash, Into Space

Dustin Lushing — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 16:46:59 CDT

A NASA astronaut hurled two large pieces of space junk—a 1,400-pound reservoir filled with ammonia and a 212-pound piece of video equipment—off the International Space Station and into the Earth's orbit today. NASA does not approve of space littering, Reuters reports, but the agency had no other...