[Astrobiology (Journal)] Over the last several decades, investigations of Earth’s subsurface and other extremely low-biomass systems have refined our understanding of the environmental limits of life, driven by methodological advances […]
Atmospheres, Climate, Weather
![Benchmark test between chemcat (dashed black lines) and GGchem (solid colored lines) for a network of neutral species at 1 bar and temperatures from 100–6000 K (only selected species are shown). Both codes produced results typically consistent within 0.1 dex, with noticeable differences resulting from missing thermochemical data or at the lowest temperatures T ≲ 200 K. -- [astro-ph.EP]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Pyrat-Bay.png?resize=1200%2C713&ssl=1)
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets
Pyrat Bay 2.0: An Upgraded Framework for Exoplanet Atmosphere Modeling in the JWST Era
[astro-ph.EP] This article presents a major update to the open-source Pyrat Bay modeling framework (version 2.0), tailored for the characterization of exoplanet atmospheres with the observational capabilities of current facilities, […]
![Illustration of the VHS 1256 b data used in this study. (Top) Full ERS #1386 program (V2) spectrum of VHS 1256 b with overlapping wavelengths between orders shown in grey. With 12 spectral orders populating the NIRSpec and MIRI data combination we have 11 overlaps present across the global spectrum. (Middle) NIRSpec data at its native resolution and the binned spectrum used in our retrieval analysis. (Bottom) MIRI data at its native resolution and the binned spectrum used in our retrieval analysis. -- [astro-ph.EP]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/The-JWST.png?resize=1200%2C719&ssl=1)
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets
The JWST Early Release Science Program for Direct Observations of Exoplanetary Systems VIII: Patchy Forsterite and Enstatite Clouds in the Atmosphere of VHS 1256 b.
[astro-ph.EP] JWST defines a new era for the data-driven approach of retrieval modelling, which has become a cornerstone tool for the statistical inference of exoplanetary and brown dwarf properties.
Posted inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather
Atmospheres As Habitats
[Astrobiology (Journal)]. The potential of planetary atmospheres as habitats is understudied and likely underestimated. Although planetary atmospheres can provide the fundamental physical, chemical, and energetic requirements for life, they also […]
Posted inBiosignatures & Paleobiology
Orbital Biosphere Assays: Lowering Barriers To Big Data
Editor’s note: When we begin to conduct Away Team visits to other worlds that host life we will need to do an assay of how everything on these worlds works […]
![Mass-radius diagram of known exoplanets together with model curves taken from A. Aguichine et al. (2021) and L. Zeng et al. (2019). Exoplanet data shown with colored dots were taken from the NASA Exoplanet Archive (J. L. Christiansen et al. 2025) on April 2, 2026. The transiting exoplanets in the HD 191939 system are highlighted with larger markers, error bars and a red outline.-- [astro-ph.EP]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/The-SPACE.png?resize=1200%2C714&ssl=1)
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets
The SPACE Program II: No Discernible Spectral Features In The Transmission Spectrum Of The sub-Neptune HD 191939 b Observed With HST/WFC3
[astro-ph.EP] The atmospheres of sub-Neptunes provide a window into their internal structure and history, shedding light on the origin of this common, but enigmatic, class of exoplanets.
![Illustration of the TRAPPIST-1 system and the most recent JWST constraints on planetary atmospheres. Planet size and distance roughly to scale. - [astro-ph.EP]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/veiled.png?resize=1200%2C820&ssl=1)
Posted inTRAPPIST-1
Veiled in Starlight: Impacts of Stellar Contamination On Retrievals of TRAPPIST-1f’s Atmospheric Composition
[astro-ph.EP] The TRAPPIST-1 system offers seven terrestrial exoplanets with tight orbits and large radii ratios to the host star. If an atmosphere exists, transmission spectroscopy can be used to detect […]
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets
Exploration Of Exoplanet Atmospheres With The James Webb Space Telescope
[astro-ph.EP] The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is providing transformative characterization capabilities for the study of both transiting and directly imaged extrasolar planets. Observations deep into the infrared in the […]
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets
JWST Transmission Spectroscopy Of TOI-3235 b: Challenges In Constraining Giant Planet Atmospheres Around M Dwarfs Amid Stellar Contamination
[astro-ph.EP] Giant planets orbiting low-mass M dwarfs challenge current planet formation theories, which predict that such planets are unlikely to form. Characterizing their atmospheres can provide key insight into their […]
Posted inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather
MarsCast: Transfer Learning Of AI Weather Foundation Models To Planetary Atmospheres
[astro-ph.EP] We investigate the transferability of Earth weather foundation models to planetary atmospheres by adapting the GraphCast graph neural weather forecasting model to Mars. While GraphCast achieves state-of-the-art performance for […]