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HOLEhttps://laraertaul.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/blackhole-qs01.pngBLACKHOLE QS01https://laraertaul.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/small-black-hole.pngSMALL BLACK HOLE2026-01-15T06:02:24+00:00monthlyhttps://laraertaul.com/2026/01/14/breakthroughs-of-2025-searching-for-life-on-mars/https://laraertaul.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/leopard-spots-on-mars.pngLeopard Spots on MARS2026-01-15T04:28:30+00:00monthlyhttps://laraertaul.com/2025/12/04/capturing-the-orion-nebula-m42-a-stellar-nursery-close-to-home/https://laraertaul.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/orion-nebula.jpgORION NEBULA2025-12-06T06:19:36+00:00monthlyhttps://laraertaul.com/2025/12/04/astrophotography-workshop-at-chabot-space-science-center-unveiling-our-place-in-the-universe/https://laraertaul.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/chabot-2.jpgChabot 2https://laraertaul.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/chabot.webpChabot2025-12-05T02:42:24+00:00monthlyhttps://laraertaul.com/2025/12/04/computer-game-review-tharsis-a-strategy-game-set-on-the-volcanic-hearth-of-mars/https://laraertaul.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tharsis.jpgTharsis2025-12-05T02:32:00+00:00monthlyhttps://laraertaul.com/2025/11/09/first-light-with-my-celestron-origin-mark-ii-the-andromeda-galaxy/https://laraertaul.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/celestron-mark-ii.jpgCELESTRON MARK IIhttps://laraertaul.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/lara-first-img_andromeda.jpgLARA FIRST IMG_ANDROMEDA2025-11-10T06:10:45+00:00monthlyhttps://laraertaul.com/2025/11/09/what-came-before-the-big-bang/https://laraertaul.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/multiverse.jpgMULTIVERSE2025-11-09T20:50:38+00:00monthlyhttps://laraertaul.com/2025/11/09/book-review-paul-m-sutters-your-place-in-the-universe/https://laraertaul.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/paul-sutter.jpgPaul SUTTER2025-11-09T20:45:13+00:00monthlyhttps://laraertaul.com/2025/10/11/s-e-t-i-thes-serach-for-extraterrestrial-intelligence/https://laraertaul.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/seti-hat-creek.jpgSETI Hat Creek2025-10-21T16:31:48+00:00monthlyhttps://laraertaul.com/2025/10/11/book-review-jeffrey-bennets-life-in-the-universe/https://laraertaul.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/life-in-the-universe-5th-edition.jpgLife in the Universe 5th Edition2025-10-11T23:00:07+00:00monthlyhttps://laraertaul.com/2025/09/21/book-review-carlo-rovellis-white-holes/https://laraertaul.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/rovelli.jpgRovelli2025-09-30T23:56:23+00:00monthlyhttps://laraertaul.com/2025/09/21/white-holes-from-black-holes-to-white-holes-a-quantum-rebirth-of-the-universe/https://laraertaul.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/white-hole.jpgWhite holehttps://laraertaul.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/penrose.jpgPenrosehttps://laraertaul.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/tfzau.pngtFZaU2025-09-24T18:10:19+00:00monthlyhttps://laraertaul.com/2025/06/08/where-is-everybody-the-drake-equation/https://laraertaul.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/screenshot-2025-06-08-at-5.05.21e280afpm.pngScreenshot 2025-06-08 at 5.05.21 PMhttps://laraertaul.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/screenshot-2025-06-08-at-5.04.36e280afpm.pngScreenshot 2025-06-08 at 5.04.36 PMhttps://laraertaul.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/screenshot-2025-06-08-at-5.03.03e280afpm.pngScreenshot 2025-06-08 at 5.03.03 PMhttps://laraertaul.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/screenshot-2025-06-08-at-5.01.55e280afpm.pngScreenshot 2025-06-08 at 5.01.55 PMhttps://laraertaul.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/gravitywaves_claro_1486.jpgGravityWaves_Claro_1486During a climb to the highest mountain of Portugal (2351m), Pico mountain, in Pico island - Azores, I stopped at about 1200 meters to appreciate the views and photograph the lights coming from the island of Faial in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, during the night in a rare occasion with only a few clouds with part of the "winter" Milky Way visible. Above the low clouds, I have captured strange "rainbow bands" of airglow. The bands are actually huge parallel structures in the thermosphere 90 km upwards. Perspective makes them appear to converge. This Gravity Waves* (not confuse with gravitational waves) propagating upwards from disturbances lower down in the atmosphere, are likely the source of the bands. The wave amplitude increases with height (reducing density) and wavelengths can be thousands of kilometers.Airglow is the light of electronically and/or vibration-rotationally excited atoms and molecules high in Earth's atmosphere, by solar ultra-violet radiation. In this image, we can see almost each possible airglow color appearing on a single band. The green airglow is from oxygen atoms (1S ->1D) 90-100 km high. The red/orange could be yet more oxygen airglow, this time from atoms 150-300km high where the atmosphere is so sparse and collisions so infrequent that the atoms have time to radiate 'forbidden' light (1D ->3P) before losing their electronic excitation in impacts with other atoms and molecules. Deep red banded airglow is likely emission from vibrationally excited OH radicals in a layer ~86km high. The bands are caused by gravity waves propagating upwards from the lower atmosphere. They modulate the local pressure, temperature and specie concentrations. Blue airglow is much much fainter and not very obvious on the image. Excited molecular oxygen at ~95 km high can produce it. The excitation is indirect. Possible routes are via daylight dissociation of N2 and NO or twilight recombination of NO+ whose reaction products generate excited O2. 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6.21.13 PM2025-04-26T01:05:24+00:00monthlyhttps://laraertaul.com/2025/04/20/what-type-of-life-could-be-in-exoplanets/https://laraertaul.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/gas-giants.jpgGas Giantshttps://laraertaul.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/europa-life.jpgEuropa Lifehttps://laraertaul.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/screenshot-2025-04-20-at-6.16.32e280afpm.pngScreenshot 2025-04-20 at 6.16.32 PMhttps://laraertaul.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/screenshot-2025-04-20-at-6.07.50e280afpm-1.pngScreenshot 2025-04-20 at 6.07.50 PMAcidophiles: Microbes that live in highly acidic conditions, potentially inhabiting planets with acidic atmospheres.https://laraertaul.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/screenshot-2025-04-20-at-6.07.42e280afpm-1.pngScreenshot 2025-04-20 at 6.07.42 PMPsychrophiles: Life forms that prefer extremely cold environments, which could be found on icy exoplanets or moons.https://laraertaul.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/screenshot-2025-04-20-at-6.07.34e280afpm-1.pngScreenshot 2025-04-20 at 6.07.34 PMThermophiles: Organisms that thrive at high temperatures, possibly existing on planets with intense volcanic activity.https://laraertaul.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/screenshot-2025-04-20-at-6.07.42e280afpm.pngScreenshot 2025-04-20 at 6.07.42 PMhttps://laraertaul.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/screenshot-2025-04-20-at-6.07.50e280afpm.pngScreenshot 2025-04-20 at 6.07.50 PMhttps://laraertaul.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/screenshot-2025-04-20-at-6.07.34e280afpm.pngScreenshot 2025-04-20 at 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