Bubble ring created by a humpback whale named Thorn. Credit: © Dan Knaub, The Video Company SETI Institute A team of scientists from the SETI Institute and the University of

A thick plume of sand and dust from the Sahara Desert is seen in these images blowing from the west coast of Africa across the Atlantic Ocean. Larger image Sandstorms,

Darkening of the Global Ocean. (A) The rate change (units per year) in the diffuse attenuation coefficient for downwelling irradiance at 490 nm measured from MODIS Aqua between 2003 and

Reflected light (top row) and polarized light (bottom row) spectra for various homogeneous, cloud-free planets with different surface types. The wavelength-dependent spectral features of desert, forest, and polar surfaces are

Condensation of major rock-forming phases from a gas of solar composition at P = 10-3 bar (modified after Davis and Richter, 2007). The first phases to form upon cooling are

Left: Map of the Orion Molecular Cloud (OMC) complex obtained with the IRAM 30m telescope in CO 2–1. The data are taken from Berné et al. . We indicate the

Overlook crater” near the summit of Kilauea Volcano — USGS It is important that we are able to accurately model the atmospheres of (exo)planets. This is because atmospheres play a