Related papers: Dust cloud lightning in extraterrestrial atmospher…
Brown Dwarf atmosphere are a chemically extremely rich, one example being the formation of clouds driven by the phase-non-equilibrium of the atmospheric gas. Cloud formation modelling is an integral part of any atmosphere simulation used to…
Based upon experimental observation in the laboratory, we propose that ionic wind from corona discharge inside a thundercloud would play an important role in producing a rain gush. A cyclic chain of events inside a super-saturated…
I review some of the evidences for dust in the Local Bubble and in galactic halos and show that a general mechanism based on radiation pressure is capable of evacuating dust grains from regions dominated by massive star energy input and…
Jupiter and Saturn have extended, nearly toroidal atmospheres composed of material ejected from their moons or rings. Here we suggest that similar atmospheres must exist around giant extrasolar planets and might be observable in a transit…
Thunderstorms and the lightning that they produce are inherently interesting phenomena that have intrigued scientists and mankind in general for many years. The study of thunderstorms has rapidly advanced during the past century and many…
The atmospheres of small exoplanets likely derive from a combination of geochemical outgassing and primordial gases left over from formation. Secondary atmospheres, such as those of Earth, Mars and Venus, are sourced by outgassing.…
The inner Solar System contains a cloud of small (1-100 micron) dust grains created when small bodies-asteroids, comets, and Kuiper belt objects-collide and outgas. This dust cloud, the zodiacal cloud probably has extrasolar analogs,…
White dwarfs have atmospheres that are expected to consist nearly entirely of hydrogen and helium, since heavier elements will sink out of sight on short timescales. However, observations have revealed atmospheric pollution by heavier…
The mass density of dust particles that form from asteroids and comets in the interplanetary medium of the solar system is, near 1 AU, comparable to the mass density of the solar wind. It is mainly contained in particles of micrometer size…
While scattering of light by atoms and molecules yields large amount of polarization at the B-band of both T- and L-dwarfs, scattering by dust grains in cloudy atmosphere of L-dwarfs gives rise to significant polarization at the far-optical…
Determining the habitability and interpreting atmospheric spectra of exoplanets requires understanding their atmospheric physics and chemistry. We use a 3-D Coupled Climate-Chemistry Model, the Met Office Unified Model with the UK Chemistry…
Recent IR observations indicate that many massive binary systems present dust formation episodes, in regions close to the stars, during the periastron passage. These systems are known to be high-energy sources, and it is believed that wind…
Clouds have a strong impact on the climate of planetary atmospheres. The potential scattering greenhouse effect of CO2 ice clouds in the atmospheres of terrestrial extrasolar planets is of particular interest because it might influence the…
Cloud-to-ground lightning is the most common among atmospheric discharges. Since electric fields in the vicinity of a thunder-cloud do not exceed 250 kV/m the physical process that triggers the lightning remains unexplained. [1, 2, 3]…
We present a comprehensive theory of the spectra and atmospheres of irradiated extrasolar giant planets. We explore the dependences on stellar type, orbital distance, cloud characteristics, planet mass, and surface gravity. Phase-averaged…
We aim at understanding the formation of cloud layers in quasi-static substellar atmospheres. The time-dependent description presented in (Helling & Woitke 2006) is a kinetic model describing nucleation, growth and evaporation. It is…
Cosmic rays provide an important source for free electrons in the Earth's atmosphere and also in dense interstellar regions where they produce a prevailing background ionization. We utilize a Monte Carlo cosmic ray transport model for…
We examine the possibility that icy super-Earth mass planets, formed over long time scales (0.1--1~Gyr) at large distances ($\sim$ 200--1000~AU) from their host stars, will develop massive H-rich atmospheres. Within the interior of these…
Observations of interstellar gas and dust towards nearby stars and within the solar system show that the Sun is embedded in a warm diffuse partially-ionized cloud. This cloud is the leading edge of a flow of interstellar matter (ISM)…
Uranus provides a unique laboratory to test our understanding of planetary atmospheres under extreme conditions. Multi-spectral observations from Voyager, ground-based observatories, and space telescopes have revealed a delicately banded…