Comets and Asteroids Archives

Velocity-stacked spectra and matched filter responses of 2- and 4-cyanopyrene. The stacked GOTHAM observations (black) are overlaid with the simulated stacked spectrum of 2- and 4-cyanopyrene (blue and pink, respectively), each consisting of the 150 brightest SNR lines (left panels). Marginalized posterior parameters were used in both simulations, as reported in Supplementary Table A3. The corresponding impulse response for the matched filtering analysis is shown, yielding a significance of 8.0 σ and 12.9 σ for the 2- and 4-cyanopyrene detections, respectively (right panels). The small features in the stacked simulated spectrum (pink) in the bottom left panel result from the densely populated 4-cyanopyrene lines (see Fig. A3) that add up in the stack. -- astro-ph.GA

Astrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Meteorites & Asteroids, Status Report

Detections Of Interstellar 2-cyanopyrene And 4-cyanopyrene In TMC-1

by Keith CowingOctober 4, 2024October 8, 2024

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are among the most ubiquitous compounds in the universe, accounting for up to ~25% of all interstellar carbon. Since most unsubstituted PAHs do not possess permanent […]

An artist’s concept of Centaur 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1’s outgassing activity as seen from the side. While prior radio-wavelength observations showed a jet of gas pointed toward Earth, astronomers used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to gather additional insight on the front jet’s composition and noted three more jets of gas spewing from Centaur 29P’s surface. NASA, ESA, CSA, L. Hustak (STScI)

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release

Astrochemistry: Webb Reveals Unusual Jets of Volatile Gas from Icy Centaur 29P

by Keith CowingOctober 3, 2024October 3, 2024

Inspired by the half-human, half-horse creatures that are part of Ancient Greek mythology, the field of astronomy has its own kind of centaurs: distant objects orbiting the Sun between Jupiter […]

This simulation was run in a uniformly 90% ice crust (Fig. 1a) at the equator and shows total vertical displacement after 1 Gyr of relaxation. The black lines are the initial state of the simulation, and the solid colour shows the final state of the simulation. In this case, the crater has only shallowed by ~70 m from an initial depth of 2,400 m (seen as the solid colour at the centre of the crater slightly offset from the black line), for a relaxation percentage of

Astrogeology, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Caves, Craters, Mountains, Subsurface, Lava Tubes, Ceres, Comets and Asteroids, Cryobiology, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Impact events, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

An Ancient And Impure Frozen Ocean On Ceres Implied By Its Ice-rich Crust

by Keith CowingSeptember 30, 2024September 29, 2024

Ceres is a key object in understanding the evolution of small bodies and is the only dwarf planet to have been orbited by a spacecraft, NASA’s Dawn mission.

Example Tails interface for the scanning of comet candidates. Adapted from Fig. 5 of (Duev et al., 2021) and reproduced with the permission of the authors and AAS Journals. -- astro-ph.EP

AI - Data - Apps - Cybernetics, Astrochemistry, Comets and Asteroids, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report

Identification and Localization of Cometary Activity in Solar System Objects with Machine Learning

by Keith CowingSeptember 24, 2024September 24, 2024

In this chapter, we will discuss the use of Machine Learning methods for the identification and localization of cometary activity for Solar System objects in ground and in space-based wide-field […]

Commercial gazebo tent used as a cleanroom garment space before entry into cleanroom space. An operator applies regular cleaning procedures. -- via PubMed

Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Meteorites & Asteroids, Microbiology & Virology, Planetary Protection & Biosafety, Reports, Roadmaps, & Plans, Sample Return, Societal Issues, Space Life Science, Status Report

Design, Development, And Operation Of An ISO Class 5 Cleanroom For Planetary Instrumentation And Planetary Protection Protocols

by Keith CowingSeptember 23, 2024September 23, 2024

Cleanrooms are controlled environments where the number of airborne particles is reduced to a level defined by an International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standard. These facilities have applications in different […]

This color view of Ryugu's surface at night was created from images captured by MASCOT using red, green, and blue LEDs for illumination. MASCOT/DLR/JAXA via Planetary Society

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Meteorites & Asteroids, Missions & Hardware, Origin & Evolution of Life, Panspermia, Sample Return, Status Report

Variations Of Organic Functional Chemistry In Carbonaceous Matter From The Asteroid 162173 Ryugu

by Keith CowingSeptember 22, 2024September 22, 2024

Primordial carbon delivered to the early earth by asteroids and meteorites provided a diverse source of extraterrestrial organics from pre-existing simple organic compounds, complex solar-irradiated macromolecules, and macromolecules from extended […]

Zonally and temporally averaged snow fraction for our reference non-impacted model (top left) and at three points in time post-impact for our combined water and heat deposition impact model: 6 months post-impact (top right), 1 year post-impact (bottom left), and 15 years post-impact (bottom right), by which time the impacted models snow fraction has returned to a state clost to that found in our non-impacted reference state. -- astro-ph.EP

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Comets and Asteroids, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Extinction events, Icy Worlds, Impact events

The Impact of Icy Cometary ‘Impacts’ on Exoplanetary Atmospheres I: Tidally-Locked Terrestrial Exoplanets

by Keith CowingSeptember 18, 2024

Impacts by rocky and icy bodies are thought to have played a key role in shaping the composition of solar system objects, including the Earth’s habitability. Hence, it is likely […]

Chondrules exhibiting complex structures with multiple zoning and rims, which is indicative of multiple melting events. A) Chondrule from the LAP 02342 CR2 chondrite with a primary and secondary shell and a surrounding igneous rim, all separated by metal rims (from Rubin, 2010). B) Complex chondrule from CR2 chondrite Acfer 139 with four shells (s) and metal (m) rims (from Hobbart et al., 2015), with Si = red, Ca = green, 12 Fe = blue. Olivine in pyroxene-bearing layer S2 grew epitaxialy on olivine in pyroxene-free layer S1, the two separated by a thin layer M1 of numerous metal grains. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Comets and Asteroids, Meteorites & Asteroids, Status Report

Is There A Genetic Relationship Between Chondrules And Matrix?

by Keith CowingSeptember 16, 2024September 16, 2024

Chondritic components such as chondrules and matrix are the key time capsules that can help us understand the evolution and dynamics of the protoplanetary disk from which the Solar System […]

The predicted uncompressed density of the Pluto-Charon system (colored curves) as the fraction of the protosolar C inventory contained in refractory organics increases from 0% to 100%, assuming the canonical protosolar abundances in Lodders 2021 (L21, see Table 1). The horizontal black dashed line represents the average uncompressed density of the system ∼ 1800 kg m−3 (Barr & Schwamb 2016; McKinnon et al. 2017), taken to be the most representative value we have for the bulk composition of large KBOs. The gray area shows the 3σ uncertainty (± 20 kg m−3 , Brozovi´c et al. 2015, McKinnon et al. 2017, Nimmo et al. 2017). -- astro-ph.EP

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Meteorites & Asteroids, Status Report

A Broad Set of Solar and Cosmochemical Data Indicates High C-N-O Abundances For Our Solar System

by Keith CowingSeptember 16, 2024September 16, 2024

We examine the role of refractory organics as a major C carrier in the outer protosolar nebula and its implications for the compositions of large Kuiper belt objects (KBOs) and […]

This 120 second image of the comet was taken Dec. 2 by an iTelescope 50 mm refractor located at an observatory near Mayhill, New Mexico. The streak below the comet was produced by a rocket body (upper stage) passing through the telescope's field of view during the exposure. Credit: NASA

Astrochemistry, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Comets and Asteroids, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report

Evidence for Surprising Heavy Nitrogen Isotopic Enrichment in Comet 46P/Wirtanen’s Hydrogen Cyanide

by Keith CowingSeptember 10, 2024September 10, 2024

46P/Wirtanen is a Jupiter-family comet, probably originating from the Solar System’s Kuiper belt, that now resides on a 5.4 year elliptical orbit. During its 2018 apparition, comet 46P passed unusually […]

Comets and Asteroids

Detections Of Interstellar 2-cyanopyrene And 4-cyanopyrene In TMC-1

Astrochemistry: Webb Reveals Unusual Jets of Volatile Gas from Icy Centaur 29P

An Ancient And Impure Frozen Ocean On Ceres Implied By Its Ice-rich Crust

Identification and Localization of Cometary Activity in Solar System Objects with Machine Learning

Design, Development, And Operation Of An ISO Class 5 Cleanroom For Planetary Instrumentation And Planetary Protection Protocols

Variations Of Organic Functional Chemistry In Carbonaceous Matter From The Asteroid 162173 Ryugu

The Impact of Icy Cometary ‘Impacts’ on Exoplanetary Atmospheres I: Tidally-Locked Terrestrial Exoplanets

Is There A Genetic Relationship Between Chondrules And Matrix?

A Broad Set of Solar and Cosmochemical Data Indicates High C-N-O Abundances For Our Solar System

Evidence for Surprising Heavy Nitrogen Isotopic Enrichment in Comet 46P/Wirtanen’s Hydrogen Cyanide

Potential Survivable Niches For Microbial Life On The Lunar South Pole

JWST Telemetry Combined With Active Coronagraphy: Raw Contrast Predictions For Exoplanet Imaging With The Habitable Worlds Observatory

Antarctica Is Home To Microbes Found Nowhere Else On Earth

Study: Peptides Can Form Well-defined Structures In Harsh, Venus-like Conditions

Modeling Carbon-Based Planets with MAGRATHEA