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There are two primary factors: size and distance from the Sun. Gravity helps planets and moons to hold on to their atmospheres, so small planets/moons such as Mars and the Moon have thin atmospheres.
- What makes a planet have an atmosphere?
- What does it mean when a planet doesn't have an atmosphere?
- Does atmosphere depend on mass?
- Do all the planets have atmospheres?
- What planets have primary atmospheres?
- What is required for an atmosphere?
- Is there any planet without atmosphere?
- Are there planets without an atmosphere?
- Why are atmospheres important for planets?
- Which factor controls whether or not a planet will have an atmosphere and how thick it will be?
- What factors affect a planet's temperature?
- What are the atmospheres of the giant planets made of?
- Why does only Earth have an atmosphere?
- What planets have secondary atmospheres?
- Which rocky planets have well developed atmospheres?
- Where do secondary atmospheres come from?
What makes a planet have an atmosphere?
A: Planets and their atmospheres come from the same material as their parent star, which forms from a nebula of dust and gas. After the new sun ignites, excess material that didn't make it into the star instead forms a disk around it. Planets, asteroids, and comets later condense from that disk.
What does it mean when a planet doesn't have an atmosphere?
The planet's lack of atmosphere could be because of its dwarf star. ... The findings support the theory that planets orbiting smaller stars (around 60% smaller in radius than the sun) lack substantial atmospheres — possibly due to the radiation from their dwarf star, according to the study.
Does atmosphere depend on mass?
Answer 1: Whether or not a planet retains an atmosphere over geologic time (millions of years) depends on the mass of the planet, the radius of the planet, the temperature of the atmosphere and the composition of the atmosphere.
Do all the planets have atmospheres?
For starters, it should be noted that every planet in the Solar System has an atmosphere of one kind or another. And these range from incredibly thin and tenuous (such as Mercury's “exosphere”) to the incredibly dense and powerful – which is the case for all of the gas giants.
What planets have primary atmospheres?
Planets such as Jupiter and Saturn have primary atmospheres. Primary atmospheres are very thick compared to secondary atmospheres like the one found on Earth. The primary atmosphere was lost on the terrestrial planets due to a combination of surface temperature, mass of the atoms and escape velocity of the planet.
What is required for an atmosphere?
Three factors play into a gas's ability to escape the pull of a planet's gravity: temperature, molecular mass, and escape velocity, the speed a molecule needs to achieve to escape into space.
Is there any planet without atmosphere?
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are gas/ice giants with primarily Hydrogen and Helium atmospheres. Hence, out of all the inner planets in the solar system, i.e., Mercury, Venus, Earth, or Mars, Mercury is the only planet with no atmosphere.
Are there planets without an atmosphere?
Short answer: Mercury. Long answer: Mercury is the only planet in our Solar System that has no substantial atmosphere.
Why are atmospheres important for planets?
The Earth's atmosphere protects and sustains the planet's inhabitants by providing warmth and absorbing harmful solar rays. In addition to containing the oxygen and carbon dioxide, which living things need to survive, the atmosphere traps the sun's energy and wards off many of the dangers of space.
Which factor controls whether or not a planet will have an atmosphere and how thick it will be?
The thickness of a planet's atmosphere depends on the planet's gravity and the temperature of the atmosphere. A planet with weaker gravity does not have as strong a hold on the molecules that make up its atmosphere as a planet with stronger gravity. The gas molecules will be more likely to escape the planet's gravity.
What factors affect a planet's temperature?
On global scales, three things can affect this energy flow and therefore, the average global surface temperature. As shown in the figure below, they are the planet's distance from the Sun, the planet's surface reflectivity (albedo), and the planet's atmosphere (through a process called the greenhouse effect).
What are the atmospheres of the giant planets made of?
Atmospheres. The atmospheres of Jupiter and Saturn are made almost entirely of hydrogen and helium, although there is some evidence they contain hydrogen compounds. Uranus and Neptune are made primarily of hydrogen compounds, with smaller traces of hydrogen, helium, metal and rock.
Why does only Earth have an atmosphere?
Our atmosphere protects the Earth from the harsh rays of the sun and reduces temperature extremes, acting like a duvet wrapped around the planet. ... Mars and Venus have atmospheres, but they cannot support life (or, at least, not Earth-like life), because they don't have enough oxygen.
What planets have secondary atmospheres?
The Solar System has three planets—Earth, Venus, and Mars—that have atmospheres derived from H2-free solids (secondary atmospheres), and four giant planets whose atmospheres are derived from protoplanetary nebula gas (H2-dominated primary atmospheres) (1, 2).
Which rocky planets have well developed atmospheres?
Of these, the planets Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune have significant atmospheres. Pluto (a dwarf planet) may have an appreciable atmosphere, but perhaps only when its highly elliptical orbit is closest to the Sun.
Where do secondary atmospheres come from?
A secondary atmosphere is an atmosphere of a planet that did not form by accretion during the formation of the planet's star. A secondary atmosphere instead forms from internal volcanic activity, or by accumulation of material from comet impacts.
