What is the method for determining a planet's atmospheric composition without using a space probe?
402176
You're right, spectroscopy is the proper method...Below you'll find a link to a quick and simple explanation.
251207
Don't have it handy,but it'sjust a little denser than water, from what I remember. Check www.nasa.gov. They have lots of planetary info!
652075
is it from this planet itself?
17443
STN, owned by Chemical Abstracts Society, has dozens of databases for this purpose.\nhttp://www.cas.org/stn.html\nAlso, look at the Diaglog service, by Questel.Orbit.
326233
They can basically find out the composition of the sun ie.., what material it is made up of, which is because different elements have unique spectral characteristics.And they can estimate its surface temperature.
187893
Percent composition of\ndry atmosphere, by volume ppmv: parts per million by volume \nGas Volume \nNitrogen (N2) 78.084% \nOxygen (O2) 20.946% \nArgon (Ar) 0.9340% \nCarbon dioxide (CO2) 365 ppmv \nNeon (Ne) 18.18 ppmv \nHelium (He) 5.24 ppmv \nMethane (CH4) 1.745 ppmv \nKrypton (Kr) 1.14 ppmv \nHydrogen (H2) 0.55 ppmv \nNot included in above dry atmosphere: \nWater vapor (highly variable) typically 1% \n\nThis is from Wikipedia See link below:
861922
It is not a vacuum.  The density of space is 0.1 - 1000 atoms/cm3.\n\nPlanets are made of condensed interstellar matter.
652676
a. emission lines from reference elemnts on Earth
985280
The modern atmosphere is sometimes referred to as Earth's "third atmosphere", in order to distinguish the current chemical composition from two notably different previous compositions. The original atmosphere was primarily helium and hydrogen. Heat from the still-molten crust, and the sun, plus a probably enhanced solar wind, dissipated this atmosphere.\n\nAbout 4.4 billion years ago, the surface had cooled enough to form a crust, still heavily populated with volcanoes which released steam, carbon dioxide, and ammonia. This led to the early "second atmosphere", which was primarily carbon dioxide and water vapor, with some nitrogen but virtually no oxygen. This second atmosphere had approximately 100 times as much gas as the current atmosphere, but as it cooled much of the carbon dioxide was dissolved in the seas and precipitated out as carbonates. The later "second atmosphere" contained nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and very recent simulations run at the University of Waterloo and University of Colorado in 2005 suggest that it may have had up to 40% hydrogen[3]. It is generally believed that the greenhouse effect, caused by high levels of carbon dioxide and methane, kept the Earth from freezing. In fact temperatures were probably very high, over 70 degrees C, until some 2.7 billion years ago.
310415
the atmosphere is made mostly of hydrogen and helium but contains trace amounts of methane, water vapor, and ammonia. For futher information go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiter_(planet)#Atmosphere
1002235
The planet's temp. depends on their distance frm the sun. Otherwise it's all vaccum and thus can't have temp.
768643
Here you go: http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/scienceques2004/20041105.htm
444120
We know what the surface of venus looks like, the Magellan spacecraft already mapped it (altitude wise), and the Soviets landed a couple of probes on the surface a long time ago.\n\nThe new craft will not tell us what the surface looks like, you can't get any visible light info from the surface due to the thick clouds.\n\nThe ESA's stated scientific objectives for the missions are:\n    * What is the mechanism and what is the driving force of the super-rotation of the atmosphere?\n    * What are the basic processes in the general circulation of the atmosphere?\n    * What is the composition and chemistry of the lower atmosphere and the clouds?\n    * What is the past and present water balance in the atmosphere?\n    * What is the role of the radiative balance and greenhouse effect in the past present and future evolution of the planet?\n    * Is there currently volcanic and/or tectonic activity on the planet?
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6000 K (aprox 6000 ºC)\nThese are actual measurements. You don´t need to put a termometer or to actually GO there to know that. \nThere are other ways, typically involving light spectrum analysis, to accurately measure that.
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in the shuttle? absorbed and filtered. Their is still humidity but under control.\n\nIn the outer space there isn't any  just on rocks(asteroid)
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Atmosphere\nPascal\nBar\nlbs/cm^2
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NASA DOES NOT KNOW.\neveryone is only guessing.\nthere is no specific,absolute proof.\nit's all assumptions.