[University of Chicago] The planets that appear most common in the universe could have a lot of water—but it could be hiding where telescopes can’t detect it, according to a […]
Astronomy & Telescopes
![Images in the JWST/MIRI F560W, F1000W and F1500W filters (central wavelength ≈ 5.6, 10 and 15 𝜇m) of candidates D (first row) and E (second row). White stars mark the Gaia positions of the M dwarfs, which in both cases are seen to be located ≈ 1 arcsec from the centres of background galaxies. -- [astro-ph.GA]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Project-Hephaistos.png?resize=1200%2C720&ssl=1)
Posted inSETI & Technosignatures
Project Hephaistos — IV. James Webb Space Telescope Observations of Two Dyson Sphere Candidates
[astro-ph.GA] We report on JWST/MIRI imaging and spectroscopy of two M-dwarf stars previously singled out by project Hephaistos as potential Dyson-sphere candidates (their candidates D and E) due to the […]
![[Top] Spin density plot of H2S on a charged surface. The red lobe visualizes where the extra electron resides within the complex. In both (a) and (b), the extra electron is located in a pocket created by the coordination of nearby H-atoms from both the ASW surface and the H2S molecule. [BOTTOM] SO2 on a (a) neutral surface and on a (b) charged surface. Panel (a) shows both the S - - O interaction and the dH - - O interaction often found in these neutral ASW/SO2 complexes. The wireframe in panel (b) shows the spin density of the charged ASW/SO2 complex. The extra electron clearly resides in the LUMO of SO2 and interacts with the surface through multiple dH - - O interactions. -- [astro-ph.GA]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Effect-of-Ice.png?resize=1200%2C766&ssl=1)
Posted inAstrochemistry
Effect Of Ice Charging On The Astrochemistry Of Interstellar Sulfur Bearing Species On Amorphous Solid Water
[astro-ph.GA] We aim to derive statistically robust and physically interpretable BE distributions for atomic S and the sulfur-bearing molecules H2S, SO2, and OCS on neutral and negatively charged ASW, and […]
![NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s observations of what is thought to be the first ever recorded planetary engulfment event revealed a hot accretion disk surrounding the star, with an expanding cloud of cooler dust enveloping the scene. Webb also revealed that the star did not swell to swallow the planet, but the planet’s orbit actually slowly decayed over time. This illustration depicts the sequence of events that took place over millions of years, based on observations from Webb’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) and NIRSpec (NIR-Infrared Spectrograph). -- [astro-ph.EP]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/A-Bayesian-Search.png?resize=1200%2C720&ssl=1)
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets
A Bayesian Search for Planet Engulfment Signatures in Solar Analogs
[astro-ph.EP] We present a systematic Bayesian search for chemical fingerprints of planet engulfment in 113 solar twins and analogs with high-precision abundance measurements, 45 of which host known or candidate […]
![Adaptive quantum measurement framework and exoplanet detection challenge. (a) Schematic of the proposed method. Photons from an unknown multi-source scene are projected by an adaptive mode sorter onto a basis {ϕ1, . . . , ϕM} maximizing QFI for the current scene estimate and read out as photon counts {n1, . . . ,nM}. These counts drive a maximum-likelihood update of the source parameters (xn, yn, bn), from which the basis is reconstructed to maximize the quantum Fisher information, closing the measure–estimate–adaptive mode calculation loop. (b) Photon-level view of the detection problem as the host– companion contrast deepens from 1:102 to 1:106 (105 photons per panel; red and yellow points denote stellar and planetary photons, crosses mark true positions). The planetary cluster, recognizable at 1:102 , is progressively buried in the stellar halo and becomes unrecognizable, illustrating the failure of direct imaging in the ultra-high-contrast regime. -- [astro-ph.IM]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Exoplanet-Detection-Using.png?resize=1200%2C720&ssl=1)
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets
Exoplanet Detection Using Adaptive Quantum-Optimal Measurement
[astro-ph.IM] Detecting terrestrial exoplanets in the habitable zones of nearby stars remains a critical challenge. Such planets can be 10^8 10^10 times fainter than their host stars and lie at […]
Posted inAstrochemistry
Sugar Erythrulose Discovered In Interstellar Space
[Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)] Sugars are key biomolecules in living organisms, as they form the backbone of DNA and RNA and play a fundamental role in metabolic processes. In […]
![Candidate component r55 with period of P0 = 18.87 s in 1050–1140 MHz (a) and r952 with period of P0 = 16.58 s 1300–1450 MHz (b) in our search. The layout of the two panels are the same as Figure 1. -- [astro-ph.IM]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Periodic-Radio.png?resize=1200%2C720&ssl=1)
Posted inSETI & Technosignatures
Periodic Radio Technosignature Search Toward 3I/ATLAS With FAST
[astro-ph.IM] 3I/ATLAS, the third confirmed interstellar object discovered in the Solar System, provides a unique opportunity for targeted technosignature searches.
![Individual CHEOPS transit observations of V1298 Tau c, d, and b displayed in the left, middle, and right panels, respectively. For each planet, the top row presents the raw (pre-detrended) light curves, the middle row shows the corresponding detrended light curves, and the bottom row shows the residuals from the best-fit model. Unbinned data are shown in sky blue, binned data in dark blue, and the best-fit transit model in magenta. The solid brown lines indicate 50 random samples from the MCMC posterior distribution of the combined transit and systematics model.-- [astro-ph.EP]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/CHEOPS.png?resize=1200%2C716&ssl=1)
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets
CHEOPS Observations Of V1298 Tau: Updated Planetary Densities And Implications On The Early Evolution Of The Young System
[astro-ph.EP] The young (10-30 Myr) multi-planet system V1298 Tau presents a unique opportunity to probe the early formation and evolution of young systems.
![Microscopic Image of Organic Ice Mixture captured from the O-PTIR high resolution microscope. -- [astro-ph.IM]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Detection-of-Organics.png?resize=1200%2C720&ssl=1)
Posted inAstrochemistry
Detection of Organics in Water Ice by Optical-PhotoThermal Infrared Spectroscopy
[astro-ph.IM] The detection and characterization of organic molecules within water ice is vital for interpreting observations of icy moons and comets. However, organic-ice interactions often distort intrinsic water-ice absorption features, […]
Posted inSETI & Technosignatures
SETI’s Blind Spot: Technological Acceleration And Fleeting Technosignatures
[astro-ph.IM] The search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) has traditionally framed the detection challenge with a focus on the parameter L in the Drake equation – the communicative lifetime of a […]