In their study, scientists discovered that raindrops are actually similar when examined across various planetary environments, even heavenly bodies as dissimilar as Earth and Jupiter. By absorbing the characteristics of raindrops on other planets, climatologists, astronomers, and planetary geologists can learn more about ancient climates on neighboring bodies such as Mars, enabling them to target habitable planets beyond our solar system.
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“The lifecycle of clouds is really important when we think about planet habitability,” said lead author Kaitlyn Loftus, a graduate student in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences. “But clouds and precipitation are really complicated and too complex to model completely. We’re looking for simpler ways to understand how clouds evolve, and a first step is whether cloud droplets evaporate in the atmosphere or make it to the surface as rain.”