Despite years of high accuracy observations, none of the available theoretical techniques has yet allowed the confirmation of a moon beyond the Solar System. Methods are currently limited to masses […]
Astronomy & Telescopes
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes
Infrared Band Strengths of Pyrene Frozen in Water Ice: Implications for the Composition of Interstellar Ices
Broad infrared emission features (e.g., at 3.3, 6.2, 7.7, 8.6, and 11.3 microns) from the gas phase interstellar medium have long been attributed to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). A significant […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets
A Small Step Toward Discovering Habitable Earths
University of Arizona researchers snapped images of a planet outside our solar system with an Earth-based telescope using essentially the same type of imaging sensor found in digital cameras instead […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones
Earth as an Extrasolar Transiting Planet: Detection of Water Vapor & Biogenic Species
The atmospheric composition of transiting exoplanets can be characterized during transit by spectroscopy. or an Earth twin, models predict that oxygen and ozone biogenic gases should be detectable, as well […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes
Shapes and Colors That Transcend Scale
@ESA-CAVES just tweeted another pair of Earth and space images. One is Supernova remnant W49B. The other is an unidentified benthic colonial organism. The similarities in color and shape are […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets
Microlensing Events by Proxima Centauri in 2014 and 2016: Opportunities for Mass Determination and Possible Planet Detection
We have found that Proxima Centauri, the star closest to our Sun, will pass close to a pair of faint background stars in the next few years. Using Hubble Space […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes
Photometric and spectroscopic survey of solar twin stars
Solar twins and analogs are fundamental in the characterization of the Sun’s place in the context of stellar measurements, as they are in understanding how typical the solar properties are […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes
The Feedback of Massive Stars on Interstellar Astrochemical Processes
Astrochemistry is a discipline that studies physico-chemical processes in astrophysical environments. Such environments are characterized by conditions that are substantially different from those existing in usual chemical laboratories. Models which […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Beta Pictoris
Herschel HIFI observations of ionised carbon in the Pictoris debris disk
Context: The dusty debris disk around the ~20 Myr old main-sequence A-star beta Pic is known to contain gas. Evidence points towards a secondary origin of the gas as opposed […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets
Detectability of Free Floating Planets in Open Clusters with JWST
Recent observations have shown the presence of extra-solar planets in Galactic open stellar clusters, as in the Praesepe (M44). These systems provide a favorable environment for planetary formation due to […]