[University of Copenhagen] Four and a half billion years ago, Earth and Mars were born in the rotating cloud of gas and dust that would eventually become our Solar System.
Astrogeology
Posted inMars
The North Pole Of Mars Is Less Dusty Than Scientists Thought
[University of Washington] Although Mars may have once resembled Earth, the rocky red planet now appears far from hospitable. Still, certain details — such as ice-bound water — pique researchers’ […]
Posted inEnceladus
How Enceladus’ Ocean Spray Becomes Chemically Diverse Ice Grains
[Institute of Science Tokyo] Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus hides a global ocean beneath its frozen surface. From fractures near its south pole, material from this ocean is ejected into space […]
Posted inImaging & Spectroscopy
A Missing Continental Impact Melt Sheet Signal In The Early Earth Detrital Zircon Record
[Nature Communications] Impact-derived melting has been proposed as a significant process in the formation of Earth’s early crust which could mean that impact melts are a source for Earth’s oldest […]
Posted inLava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds
The First Hubble Detection Of A Secondary Eclipse From A Rocky Exoplanet: The 5.4-hour Planet TOI-2431 b
[astro-ph.EP] We present an HST/WFC3 G141 phase-curve observation of the ultra-short-period rocky planet TOI-2431 b and detect its secondary eclipse in the near infrared.
![Experimental schematic for sequential extraction of soluble organic material from meteorites for analysis by FT-ICR MS and HR-AFM. -- [Planetary Science Journal]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Direct-Molecular.png?resize=1200%2C719&ssl=1)
Posted inAstrochemistry
Direct Molecular-scale Insight Into Soluble Organic Matter From The Murchison and Aguas Zarcas Meteorites
[Planetary Science Journal] Organic material in the Murchison and Aguas Zarcas meteorites preserves molecular records of early solar system chemistry and potential precursors to life.
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets
Ammonia And An Unexpected Chill Discovered On Distant Giant Planet HATS-6 b
[University of Maryland] Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), a team of astronomers led by the University of Maryland identified water, methane and ammonia in the atmosphere of HATS-6 […]
Posted inMeteorites & Asteroids
A Glimpse of the Solar System’s Origins: Striking Details on the Molecules Inside a Meteorite
[Brookhaven National Laboratory] Researchers at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory and Brookhaven National Laboratory have teamed up to get a fresh look at the complex makeup of meteorites and […]
Posted inHabitable Zones
Calculating Potential Cumulative Carbon Fixed And Evolutionary Stage For Earthlike Planets In Our Solar Neighborhood
[International Journal of Astrobiology] We propose a novel method for estimating possible biological evolutionary stage on exoplanets based on the hypothesis that biological evolutionary state is a linear function of […]
Posted inLava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds
Revealing The Shiny Nature Of Lava Worlds: Small Planet Phase Curves With TESS
[astro-ph.EP] Recent thermal emission observations suggest that `lava worlds’–Earth-sized exoplanets hot enough to melt their silicate surfaces–have atmospheres on a population-level.