Top Story
Roman Space Telescope: Enabling Images Of Distant Worlds
[Max Planck Institute for Astronomy] The Roman Space Telescope is designed to directly image exoplanets using complex opto-mechanical systems developed by the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy. The Roman Space Telescope has been under development for about a decade under NASA’s leadership and is scheduled to launch on August 30, 2026, at 07:26 am EDT.…
Latest
NASA Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI) Cooperative Agreement Notice (NNH26ZDA016C) Final Text And Due Dates
[NASA] The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Science Mission Directorate (SMD) and Human Spaceflight…
Interstellar Aromatic Infrared Bands: IR Absorption Spectroscopy Of The Lowest Triplet State Of Naphthalene
[astro-ph.GA] The aromatic infrared bands (AIBs), emission features observed ubiquitously across a wide variety of…
The Highly Unusual Behavior And Chemical Composition Of Interstellar Comet 2I/Borisov
[astro-ph.EP]. We report on imaging, spectroscopy, and narrowband photometry of interstellar comet 2I/Borisov obtained at…
Earth As A Potential Source Of Llife For Europa’s Subsurface Ocean
The paper discusses the possibility of dust particles containing living bacteria ejected from Earth reaching Europa and landing on its surface. It is shown that, taking certain factors into account, over a period of 30 − 80 Myr (the estimated age of Europa’s ocean), Jupiter’s moon would have been impacted…
Keep readingDust To Dust: Prospects For Passive Technosignatures As Relics Of ETI
Technological societies are separated in time, not just space — that is the lesson of the Drake equation. Might the best way to seek them be to find technosignatures that persist long after their creators? I present work I and my collaborators have done on the idea of passive technosignatures,…
Keep reading
Astronomy & Telescopes
![JWST Cycle 6 Call for Proposals Policy Update [China]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/JWST-Cycle-6.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1)
Atmospheres, Climate, Weather
Preparing For The Early eVolution Explorer: The Impact of Flare Temperature on Ozone Column Depth in Earth-Like Atmospheres
[astro-ph.EP] Atmospheric photochemical models incorporating the impacts of stellar flares often assume a ∼9,000 K spectrum at ultraviolet-optical wavelengths. Recent multiwavelength observations, however, reveal a more complex picture with temperature measurements spanning 4,000-40,000 K, although the occurrence rates for flares with different temperatures remain unknown. Here, we model the evolution of a Proterozoic Earth-like world…
Read moreExploration Gear & Tech
NASA ExoExplorers Program: Call For ExoGuide Nominations
This ExoExplorers program, sponsored by NASA’s Exoplanet Exploration Program Office and the ExoPAG Executive Committee, will focus on the professional development of ~10 graduate student…
New UC Riverside Lab Focuses on Cutting Edge Astrobiology Tools
[UC Riverside] The Planetary Geochemistry and Astrobiology Laboratory is led by Assistant Professor Fabian Klenner, a new faculty member in UCR’s Department of Earth and…
MBARI Ocean World Expedition: Movement In The Deep
Editor’s note: When we start to mount Astrobiology missions to explore ocean worlds we’ll need ways for our robotic submersibles to observe and interact with…
Imaging & Spectroscopy
Slow-electron-triggered Chemistry In Interstellar Methanol-water Ices
[Astronomy & Astrophysics] Water and, to a lesser extent, methanol are widespread in interstellar space as ices, where sustained exposure to ionizing radiation promotes the…
Beyond Chlorophyll: Machine Learning Estimates Of Diagnostic Phytoplankton Pigments From Multispectral Ocean Colour Data
[q-bio.OT] Phytoplankton play a central role in marine ecosystems and the global carbon cycle, with different groups contributing differently to ocean biogeochemical processes. While standard…
AstroBind: Machine Learning Prediction Of Binding Energy Distributions On Interstellar Water Ice From Geometric Surface Descriptors
[astro-ph.GA] Binding energies on amorphous solid water regulate molecular desorption in molecular clouds and protoplanetary disks, but computing them from first principles across the heterogeneous…
Biosignatures & Paleobiology
The First Major Transition: Origin Of Life From A Multilevel Selection Perspective
[q-bio.PE] As all MTE, the transition at the origin of life can be constructively addressed only within the conceptual framework of multilevel selection. The two…
Orbital Biosignature Assays: FLEX Photosynthesis Satellite Fueled
[ESA] Europe’s newest eye on the health of Earth’s vegetation has taken another crucial step towards orbit – the European Space Agency’s FLEX satellite has…
The Effects of M Star Age Dependent Ultraviolet Emission on Detecting and Interpreting Exoplanet Biosignatures
[astro-ph.EP] Given their abundance and observational advantages, M stars will arguably be the best candidates for characterizing and searching for biosignatures on terrestrial exoplanets in…