Planet Earth has some pretty great qualities going for it. (Negative reviews mostly revolve around the staff and clientele.) Pretty high on the list of positives is a richly oxygenated atmosphere. But ...

Scientists have finally cracked the mystery behind one of climate change’s strangest fingerprints: while Earth’s surface heats up, the upper atmosphere is rapidly cooling. Researchers at Columbia ...

A gradual dimming and brightening when a star passed behind it suggested the mini-Pluto was wrapped in a thin layer of air. By Kenneth Chang A small world about 300 miles wide and 3.5 billion miles ...

Astronomers have spotted something surprising in the far outer Solar System—a faint, short-lived atmosphere clinging to a tiny icy world that shouldn’t be able to hold one at all. The object, called ...

The amount of carbon dioxide detected in the atmosphere hit a record high in April. CO 2 levels averaged about 431 parts per million (ppm) over that month, according to data collected at the National ...

A new study suggests that a tiny, icy world beyond Pluto harbors a thin, delicate atmosphere that may have been created by volcanic eruptions or a comet strike. Just 300 miles or so across, this mini ...

WASHINGTON, May 4 (Reuters) - In the far reaches of our solar system - beyond the outermost planet Neptune - resides a host of icy and desolate celestial bodies. Among these objects, only the dwarf ...

A small solar system denizen farther from the sun than Pluto may be shrouded in a thin atmosphere. If confirmed, it would be the first object of its size known to host even a tenuous atmosphere. “This ...

Astronomers have detected a thin atmosphere around a tiny celestial body in the outer solar system for the first time — an object previously thought to be too small to support the presence of an ...

Learn about the atmosphere, its five distinct layers, and why this gaseous shield is essential for life. Explore facts about Earth’s air and its composition. The planet Earth is covered by a huge ...

Kerry Breen is a news editor at CBSNews.com. A graduate of New York University's Arthur L. Carter School of Journalism, she previously worked at NBC News' TODAY Digital. She covers current events, ...