Destinations:
Rain, known more technically as precipitation, is the process of a vapor condensing in an atmosphere and falling down towards a planetary surface or core. In our
solar system, rain can be composed of liquid water, like on our
Earth, or even more exotic chemicals such as sulfuric acid, methane or helium on other planets and moons. The right conditions must exist for liquid rain to form, based on the melting point of each chemical.
Precipitation occurs in many places in our solar system. Venus' rain is composed of sulfuric acid that never reaches the planet's surface due to intense heat. Mars may have had rain in its past, but there is currently no solid evidence. A recent finding of rain on Saturn's moon Titan continues to surprise scientists as methane rains were found to form lakes in the northern latitudes. Rain also occurs on the gas giant planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, precipitating in the atmospheric layers to the core under increasingingly tremendous pressure.
Atmospheres are even starting to be found on other planets around other stars. Someday we may be able to observe rain on other planets, but for now there are plenty of exciting rainy destinations in our solar system.
Missions:
The Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM) mission is scheduled to launch this month to study polar mesospheric clouds.
The Aqua mission gathers data on Earth's water cycle, including evaporation from the oceans, water vapor in the atmosphere, clouds, precipitation, soil moisture, sea ice, land ice, and snow cover on the land and ice.
The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) is a joint mission between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) designed to monitor and study tropical rainfall.
Features:
Rain has many tell-tale signs on a planet, these can include lakes rivers, and oceans. Learn more by reading the following science features such as: Birthplace of Hurricanes , Europa: Searching For the Ocean Deep , Weather, Weather, Everywhere? and Europa and Titan: Oceans in the Outer Solar System?
Fast Lesson Finder:
K-12 Activities: Search our Fast Lesson Finder to find classroom lessons related to solar system and beyond. Some activities related to this month's theme includes Boiling Water Below Its Boiling Point , Is There Liquid Water on Mars? , It's Just Right , and Probing Below the Surface of Mars .
People:
Meet Jeffrey Halverson: Dr. Jeffrey Halverson travels the world's tropical latitudes to better understand how intense storms of rain and wind develop and intensify on Earth.
Other Themes
main image credit: Robert Simmon, NASA GSFC
