The 2019 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to with one half to James Peebles “for theoretical discoveries in physical cosmology”, and the other half jointly to Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz “for the discovery of an exoplanet orbiting a solar-type star.” This graphic takes a look at the prize-winning research.
You probably already know that the beginning of this week heralded the arrival of NASA’s Juno probe at Jupiter, where it will be carrying out a range of observations on our solar system’s largest planet. It might also confirm some suspicions we have about Jupiter’s chemistry. So what do we already know about Jupiter from a chemical perspective?
You’ve probably heard the great news over the weekend that the European Space Agency’s Philae lander has awoken from its 7 month slumber on Comet 67P, and is once again relaying collected data back to Earth. You might have less of an idea, however, of what this data is, and why it’s important. This graphic looks at some of the chemical information Philae is hoping to collect, and how it will collect it.
We’re heading out of this world for today’s post, to examine the atmospheric compositions of the other planets in the solar system, as well as our own. Practically every other planet in our solar system can be considered to have an atmosphere, apart from perhaps the extremely thin, transient atmosphere of Mercury, with the compositions varying from planet to planet. Different conditions on different planets can also give rise to particular effects.
