Astrogeology Archives

ID: ESP_077214_1580 date: 15 January 2023 altitude: 253 km NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona Larger image

Hints of Clay On Mars

by Keith CowingSeptember 15, 2026September 15, 2026

CRISM multispectral mapping data show strong clay (phyllosilicate) and pyroxene spectral signatures in different locations in and around this impact crater. Enhanced color can also help us to distinguish compositional […]

Venus

Venus (Probably) Ate Its Moon

by Keith CowingSeptember 15, 2026September 15, 2026

[UC Riverside] Scientists have long speculated why Venus, with a similar size, mass, and structure to Earth, doesn’t have a moon. New UC Riverside research shows it’s because our hungry […]

Low-angle backscatter electron (LABE) imaging (Supplement 9) of sample OREX-220001-1 consisting of particles obtained from inside the SRC but exterior to the sample canister — including fragments of Bennu, SRC char, and metal. FG, fine-grained. -- [astro-ph.EP]

Sample Return

OSIRIS-REx Returned a Pristine Sample of Asteroid Bennu: Takeaways from the Mission’s Contamination Control and Knowledge Program

by Keith CowingSeptember 15, 2026September 15, 2026

[astro-ph.EP] NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission had the objective of delivering a pristine sample from asteroid (101955) Bennu to Earth for scientific analysis–where “pristine” signifies the absence of foreign materials that could […]

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]

Exoplanets, -moons, -comets

Exoplanet System Architecture: Sculpting the Inner Regions

by Keith CowingSeptember 14, 2026September 14, 2026

[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 […]

An artist's impression of a star engulfing a planet. The blue line traces the path of the planet as it spirals toward the star and ultimately collides with it. Credit NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford (STScI)

Stellar Cartography

Fingerprints Inside Our Sun Could Reveal If It Once Swallowed A Planet

by Keith CowingSeptember 11, 2026September 11, 2026

[Royal Astronomical Society] It is thought the Sun may have engulfed a super-Earth-sized planet early in its history.

ID: ESP_067031_1935, date: 13 November 2020, altitude: 278 km, NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona larger image

Mars

Landforms In Ares Vallis Carved Out By Ancient Water Flow

by Keith CowingSeptember 10, 2026September 10, 2026

[NASA]. Ares Vallis is a large valley that was carved billions of years ago by water flowing across the surface of Mars.

Formation and evolution of the disk. Top: gas surface densities (in log g cm−2) for the inner 200 au of the disk are shown at 13, 21, 30, 40, 50, and 60 kyr after protostellar birth in (a)–(f). -- The Astrophysical Journal Letters

Astrogeology

Planet Formation at Cosmic Dawn: Planetesimals in H2O-rich Disks around Low-mass Stars

by Keith CowingSeptember 10, 2026September 10, 2026

[The Astrophysical Journal Letters]. Primordial, or Population III (Pop III), supernovae (SNe) were the first nucleosynthetic engines in the Universe, forging the heavy elements required for the later formation of […]

SEM images and corresponding Raman spectra of solid inclusions in gypsum. Purple arrows indicate clay minerals, and orange arrows indicate organic matter. (A) SEM image of a gypsum solid inclusion showing platy clay minerals and associated organic matter. The area outlined in white is enlarged in (B). (B) Higher magnification image showing the close spatial association between clay minerals and adsorbed organic matter. (C) Raman spectrum acquired from the area in (B), with D-band and G-band indicating kerogen. (D) SEM image of another gypsum solid inclusion, showing platy clay minerals and organic matter. The white box marks the area enlarged in (E). (E) Clay minerals with suspected spherical organic aggregates adsorbed on their surfaces. (F) The Raman spectrum from the area in (E), showing D-band and G-band of kerogen. Peaks corresponding to C=C, C–C, and –CH₃ indicate the presence of β-carotene; the –CH₃ peak overlaps with a gypsum peak near ~1000 cm⁻¹. -- Communications Earth & Environment

Biosignatures & Paleobiology

A Dual-mineral Protection Mechanism For Organic Matter Preservation And Its Implications For Mars Habitability And Biosignature Detection

by Keith CowingSeptember 10, 2026September 10, 2026

[Communications Earth & Environment] Understanding organic matter preservation in extreme environments is crucial for detecting potential biosignatures on Mars.

Simulated ablation heights of IDPs in exoplanet atmospheres. Our fiducial simulation is marked in red. Solid and dashed curves signify IDP compositions of MgSiO3 and Fe, respectively. The black dashed curve on the left most panel shows the approximation of the mass injection function Fv(p) for an arbitrary IDP mass flux for comparison with the ablation profiles. -- [astro-ph.EP]

Astrogeology

Interplanetary Dust Ablation Seeds Silicate Clouds in Exoplanet Atmospheres

by Keith CowingSeptember 10, 2026September 10, 2026

[astro-ph.EP] Interplanetary dust particles (IDPs) are present throughout the Solar System, with Earth experiencing a mass flux of roughly 100 tonnes of IDPs per day.

Saturn’s moon Enceladus is one of many moons in the solar system thought to have a liquid ocean beneath its icy exterior. Southwest Research Institute scientists modeled disruptive collisions to understand how they may have affected ocean formation in moons. Findings indicate that larger moons will likely maintain an ocean after a collision, but impacts do not seem to promote the formation of new oceans post-impact. -- SwRI

Icy Worlds

SwRI Simulations Indicate That Large Impacts May Limit Ocean Formation In Icy Moons

by Keith CowingSeptember 9, 2026September 9, 2026

[SwRI] Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) scientists provided simulations to understand the role disruptive impacts play on icy moons with subsurface oceans in our solar system.

Astrogeology

Hints of Clay On Mars

Venus (Probably) Ate Its Moon

OSIRIS-REx Returned a Pristine Sample of Asteroid Bennu: Takeaways from the Mission’s Contamination Control and Knowledge Program

Exoplanet System Architecture: Sculpting the Inner Regions

Fingerprints Inside Our Sun Could Reveal If It Once Swallowed A Planet

Landforms In Ares Vallis Carved Out By Ancient Water Flow

Planet Formation at Cosmic Dawn: Planetesimals in H2O-rich Disks around Low-mass Stars

A Dual-mineral Protection Mechanism For Organic Matter Preservation And Its Implications For Mars Habitability And Biosignature Detection

Interplanetary Dust Ablation Seeds Silicate Clouds in Exoplanet Atmospheres

SwRI Simulations Indicate That Large Impacts May Limit Ocean Formation In Icy Moons

Impact Crater Hydrothermal Systems Support Rapid Microbial Enrichment and Diverse Metabolic Potential

Photometric and Spectroscopic Observations of Comet 2P/Encke’s Nucleus in the Mid-Infrared Wavelength Region

A New Method Maps An Exoplanet’s True Shape

Wavefront-Conditioned Photon Measurements for Exoplanet Spectroscopy: Contrast Limits and Conditional Gains

ExoPAG 35 – Early Career Talks Invitation