Sentences with phrase «radiation from the sun ionizes»

The haze results from chemical reactions in the upper atmosphere, where ultraviolet radiation from the sun ionizes nitrogen and methane, which react to form tiny hydrocarbon particles tens of nanometers in diameter.

Not exact matches

This layer of the atmosphere forms when radiation from the sun strips electrons from, or ionizes, atoms and molecules in the atmosphere between about 75 and 1,000 kilometers above Earth's surface.

The gauntlet Juno ran at Jupiter held many chances for catastrophe: The spacecraft might have been knocked out by intense magnetic fields (at that distance, 20 times stronger than Earth's), ionizing radiation (a total dose of 265 rads — more than enough to kill a human being), dust particles from Jupiter's rings (from which the main engine was completely unshielded) or loss of power if the solar arrays were unable to reorient to the sun.