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Atomic physics plays a key role in astrophysics as astronomers' only information about a particular object comes through the light that it emits, and this light arises through atomic transitions. Molecular astrophysics , developed into a rigorous field of investigation by theoretical astrochemist Alexander Dalgarno beginning in 1967, concerns ...
Liquid water and ice emit radiation at a higher rate than water vapour (see graph above). Water at the top of the troposphere, particularly in liquid and solid states, cools as it emits net photons to space. Neighboring gas molecules other than water (e.g. nitrogen) are cooled by passing their heat kinetically to the water.
Deep space is defined by the United States government as all of outer space which lies further from Earth than a typical low-Earth-orbit, thus assigning the Moon to deep-space. [118] Other definitions vary the starting point of deep-space from, "That which lies beyond the orbit of the moon," to "That which lies beyond the farthest reaches of ...
Astronomers have detected water molecules on the surface of asteroids for the first time, a surprising find given that the space rocks were thought to be “completely dry.”
Water covers about 71% of the Earth's surface, with seas and oceans making up most of the water volume (about 96.5%). [23] Small portions of water occur as groundwater (1.7%), in the glaciers and the ice caps of Antarctica and Greenland (1.7%), and in the air as vapor, clouds (consisting of ice and liquid water suspended in air), and ...
Cloud condensation nuclei (CCNs), also known as cloud seeds, are small particles typically 0.2 μm, or one hundredth the size of a cloud droplet. [1] CCNs are a unique subset of aerosols in the atmosphere on which water vapour condenses. This can affect the radiative properties of clouds and the overall atmosphere. [2]
For this reason, molecules and molecular ions which are unstable on Earth can be highly abundant in space, for example the H 3 + ion. Astrochemistry overlaps with astrophysics and nuclear physics in characterizing the nuclear reactions which occur in stars, as well as the structure of stellar interiors.
Water molecules stay close to each other , due to the collective action of hydrogen bonds between water molecules. These hydrogen bonds are constantly breaking, with new bonds being formed with different water molecules; but at any given time in a sample of liquid water, a large portion of the molecules are held together by such bonds. [61]