Which planet does not have an atmosphere? Detailed analysis

The article tells about which planet does not have an atmosphere, what an atmosphere is for, how it arises, why some celestial bodies are devoid of it and how it could be created artificially.

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Life on our planet would be impossible, if there were no atmosphere on it. And it's not just the oxygen that we breathe, by the way, it contains only slightly more than 20%, but also that it creates the pressure necessary for living beings and protects them from solar radiation.

According to the scientific definition, the atmosphere is the gas envelope of the planet, which rotates with it. To put it in a simplistic way, we always have huge amounts of gas hanging over us, but we do not notice its weight, just like the Earth's gravity, because we were born in such conditions and used to it. But not all celestial bodies were lucky to have it. So which planet does not have an atmosphere? The moon in the calculation will not take, because it is still a satellite.

Mercury

Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun. Because of this neighborhood, he experiences monstrous temperature changes on the day and night side and the impact of strong radiation. The atmosphere on it is fixed by research stations only in the residual manifestation and amounts to a two trillionth part of the normal terrestrial. Generally speaking, it is not there at all. And such substances as oxygen, carbon dioxide and carbon, are found in insignificant quantities. So to the question of which planet does not have an atmosphere, The answer is obvious: this is Mercury.

But why is he deprived of it, unlike Earth or other celestial bodies? The thing is that the necessary conditions are necessary for its formation. And Mercury is like the Moon in that it is always facing the Sun with one side. On the daytime side, the temperature reaches 349.9, and at night -170 degrees Celsius. Such conditions can not be called comfortable. And even if there is an atmosphere on it, then on the shady side the gas will freeze and fall out with solid precipitation, and then because of the lowering of pressure there the atmosphere from the sunny side will rush, and everything will end exactly with the same result.

With the question of what planet does not have an atmosphere, figured out, but how are things with other heavenly bodies of our system?

Venus

The next planet after Mercury is Venus. The presence of a gas shell on it was discovered by Mikhailo Lomonosov himself. And it is very dense, to the point that it was impossible to look through it until it was made by the Soviet space station in 1970.

The atmosphere of the neighbor of the Earth consists mainly of carbon dioxide, which causes a powerful greenhouse effect, and the surface temperature of 400 degrees Celsius and rains from sulfuric acid make it very inhospitable for future researchers. So the atmosphere of the planets happens to be so infernal.

Mars

On Mars, the conditions are not so hellish, the atmosphere is very rarefied in comparison with the Earth, and its pressure is 160 times smaller than that of the surface of our planet. Its gas shell is 95% carbon dioxide. And yet this is the first candidate for terraforming, because gravity, daytime and nighttime temperatures and other conditions are quite acceptable. Without a spacesuit, of course, you will not live, but you will not be fried in a lake of liquid tin, as on Venus.

True, while these are only plans, and people did not even land there.

Jupiter

This gas giant, according to scientists, could well become another star. But its mass was not enough to squeeze hydrogen in its bowels and launch a thermonuclear reaction.

The atmosphere of planets of this type consists mainly of hydrogen, and the processes in it are very turbulent. That there is only one atmospheric vortex that has been observed for more than three hundred years is the red spot in the lower part of the planet.

Saturn

Like all gas giants, Saturn consists mainly of hydrogen. It does not cease winds, lightning flashes and even rare auroras are observed.

Uranus and Neptune

Both planets hide a thick layer of clouds from hydrogen, methane and helium. Neptune, by the way, is the record holder for the speed of winds on the surface - as much as 700 kilometers per hour!

Pluto

Remembering such a phenomenon as a planet without an atmosphere, it's hard not to mention Pluto. Before Mercury it is, of course, far: its gas shell is "only" 7 thousand times less dense than the earth's. But still it is the most remote and so far poorly studied planet. About the composition of the atmosphere is also known little - only that it contains methane.

How to create an atmosphere for life

The idea of colonization of other planets does not give rest to scientists from the very beginning of the space age. And even more so of terraforming (creation on the planet of life-friendly conditions without means of protection). All this is still at the level of hypotheses, but on the same Mars to create an atmosphere is quite real. This process is complex and multistage, but the main idea is the following: spray on the surface of bacteria that will produce even more carbon dioxide, the density of the gas shell will increase, and the temperature will rise. After this, the melting of polar glaciers will begin, and due to the increase in pressure, water will not evaporate without a trace. And then the rains will come, and the soil will become suitable for plants.

So we figured out what planet is practically devoid of the atmosphere.