Editor’s note: As I mentioned in an earlier post last month, the prime reason for being at AdGradCon – Astrobiology Graduate Conference – (https://abgradcon.org) is to focus on – AbGradCon. […]
Keith Cowing
Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA Space Station Payload manager/space biologist, Away Teams, Journalist, Lapsed climber, Synaesthete, Na’Vi-Jedi-Freman-Buddhist-mix, ASL, Devon Island and Everest Base Camp veteran, (he/him) 🖖🏻
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets
AstroFetch: AI-powered Exoplanet Assistant
[NASA Exoplanet Archive] We’re excited to announce that AstroFetch, an AI-powered assistant that answers natural-language questions about exoplanets using archive data, is now in open beta.
![Sensitivity of the adopted contrast curves for the newly validated planets, separated by technique. Each pixel gives the fraction of curves sensitive to a companion of the given magnitude contrast (∆mag) at the given angular separation (∆arcsec), shading from white (all curves sensitive) to black (none sensitive). Speckle observations are confined to their ∼ 1.2 ′′ field of view, while the adaptive-optics curves extend to wider separations. Contrasts are in each observation’s native band and are not directly comparable across instruments (cf. Table 2).-- [astro-ph.EP]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Assessing-the.png?resize=1200%2C720&ssl=1)
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets
Assessing the Impact of High-Resolution Imaging on Statistical Validation of TESS Planet Candidates
[astro-ph.EP] High-resolution imaging is widely used to constrain false-positive scenarios in exoplanet validation, but it is a finite follow-up resource that reaches only a subset of candidates, and its population-level […]
![Disk properties [Ri,Rco,Rdust] and exoplanet semimajor axis values are plotted in units of the PMS host stellar radius as a function of host star mass. The plot shows planets are less common inside the disk corotation radius suggesting that planetary inward migration is frequently halted in the vicinity of the corotation radius. Some planets have semimajor axis values < Rdust the dust sublimation radius, implying that planet migration must have occurred to populate the semimajor axis < Rdust region. Ri & Rco (gray diamonds and red squares respectively) are from the Pittman et al. (2025b) survey. -- [astro-ph.EP]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Exoplanet-System.png?resize=1200%2C719&ssl=1)
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets
Exoplanet System Architecture: Sculpting the Inner Regions
[astro-ph.EP] In this study, we seek to improve our understanding of the competing roles of disk-driven and planet-planet dynamical migration in sculpting planetary system architecture in the inner ≲1.5 au […]
Posted inGenomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics
A Genomic Catalog Of Earth’s Bacterial And Archaeal Symbionts
[Nature Biotechnology] Microbial symbiosis drives the functional and phylogenomic diversification of life on Earth yet remains underexplored because of culturing challenges.
Posted inSample Return
Closed-loop In Situ Isolation Of Deep-sea Extremophiles Through Sensor-driven Microenvironment Preservation
[Nature Sensors] Deep sea microorganisms remain largely inaccessible because existing sampling and cultivation methods fail to preserve native high-pressure microenvironments from seafloor to laboratory.
Posted inMars
SkyFall Astrogeology/Astrobiology Droids Will Survey Mars
[NASA]. Equipped with four instruments each, the three SkyFall Mars helicopters helicopters will follow in the footsteps of the agency’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter, a technology demonstrator that flew 72 times […]
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets
Eight New Planets Join The NASA Exoplanet Archive
[NASA Exoplanet Archive]. This week, the archive welcomes eight new planets: CD-35 2722 B b, HD 50554 c & d, KMT-2025-BLG-0975L b, KMT-2025-BLG-1160L b, TOI-3053 b, TOI-3278 b, and TOI-4409 b. We also bid adieu to WASP-126 […]
Posted inAstrochemistry
The Galactic Centre G+0.633-0.0604 Molecular Cloud: A New Astrochemical Gold Mine
[Astronomy and Astrophysics] Context. In the central molecular zone (CMZ) environment, shocks play a key role in both triggering star formation and providing chemical enrichment. The Sgr B2 complex is […]
Posted inMars
One Way To Land Astrobiology Droids On Mars
[NASA]. This image taken by the panoramic camera onboard the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity shows the rover’s now-empty lander, the Challenger Memorial Station, at Meridiani Planum, Mars. The image was […]