![Schematic diagram of the Fragmented Pupil telescope concept. Left Panel: Bright stars available over ∼degree scale optical fields are condensed into an artificial cluster at sub-arcminute scales (red box). Middle Panel: This is accomplished in a single reflection from a high-stability tessellated optical surface aboard a stable space telescope. Right Panel: Precision astrometric monitoring can then be accomplished by analysis of the resulting well-sampled interferograms in the image plane. Here the central science target is surrounded by a set of 6 reference stars, condensed to lie at arcsecond scales. -- [astro-ph.IM]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Astrometric-detection.png?resize=1200%2C555&ssl=1)
[astro-ph.IM] The detection of orbiting exoplanets by way of astrometric monitoring of the host star to reveal gravitationally induced reflex motion requires extreme precision and measurement stability when targeting Earth-mass […]
Exoplanets, -moons, -comets
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets
The First Selection Of Optimal Targets For The Lazuli ExtraSolar Coronagraph’s Reflected Starlight Exoplanet Campaign
[astro-ph.EP] Direct detection and characterization of exoplanet atmospheres via reflected starlight enables probes of composition of mature exoplanet systems (since flux is decoupled from age) at closer separations than via […]
![The Pandora Observatory in stowed configuration is designed to meet the ESPA Grande volume limits. Three renders show the observatory from different angles with the solar array stowed. The spacecraft bus encompasses the lower section of the observatory, with the payload attached to the bus via an interface plate. -- [astro-ph.IM]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/The-Pandora-SmallSat.jpg?resize=1200%2C722&ssl=1)
Posted inCubesats and smallsats
The Pandora SmallSat: Post-launch Operations And Mission Update
[astro-ph.IM] The Pandora SmallSat is a NASA flight project designed to study the atmospheres of exoplanets. Transmission spectroscopy of transiting exoplanets provides our best opportunity to identify the makeup of […]
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets
Systematic Uncertainties in Rocky Exoplanet Reflected Light from Incomplete Laboratory BRDF Measurements
[astro-ph.EP] The first observations of short-period rocky exoplanets have initiated the era of terrestrial exoplanet characterization. The interpretation of these observations relies on forward models used in atmospheric and surface […]
Posted inCryobiology
How High-pressure Ices On Large Ocean Worlds Can Support Habitability: The Compatibility Of Amino Acids Into Ice VI And VII
[Science Advances] Water oceans in large icy moons and exoplanets are isolated from the rocky interior by thick layers of high-pressure ice, which hinder the direct release of nutrients and […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes
Optimization of Petal-Shaped Occulters for Exo-Earth Observation
[astro-ph.IM] Petal-shaped occulters are giant, formation-flying optical devices designed for use in space astronomy.
![Optical layout of the HRI Imager. Light from the telescope focal plane is folded by COL-M1, collimated by COL-M2 to a 40 mm pupil where the forward interchange mechanism divides the beam, and re-imaged by four surfaces in each arm. Seven reflections separate the telescope from the UVIS detector and six from the NIR detector, which is the shortest path we found that meets the requirements of Section 2, and the basis of the throughput and coating arguments of Section 3.8. -- [astro-ph.IM]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/A-design-concept.jpg?resize=1200%2C722&ssl=1)
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes
A Design Concept For The High Resolution Imager On The Habitable Worlds Observatory
[astro-ph.IM] The Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) will be NASA’s next flagship astrophysics mission, designed to search for signs of life on planets around nearby stars and conduct transformational science across […]
![In order to select our final Prime Mission targets, we plotted each target in our long list to show the range of planet radius and stellar host effective temperatures covered. We selected the top 10 gaseous (above 1.9 R⊕) and top 10 terrestrial (below 1.9 R⊕) targets to be our 20 Prime Mission targets, as indicated by the black ringed points. An additional 20 targets were selected as Secondary Targets as backups to the Prime Mission targets, shown with red rings. -- [astro-ph.IM]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/The-Pandora.png?resize=1200%2C719&ssl=1)
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets
The Pandora SmallSat: Target Selection and Early Science
[astro-ph.IM]. The Pandora spacecraft is a smallsat selected in NASA’s inaugural class of Pioneers missions.
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets
Identifying Deformed Exoplanets With JWST And Ariel: A Target Selection Metric For Phase Curve Observations
[astro-ph.EP] The shape of an exoplanet encodes fundamental information about its internal structure. For close-in giant planets, strong stellar tidal forces induce measurable deformations that can be probed through high-precision […]
Posted inAstrochemistry
Robustness Of C/O And Mean Molecular Weight Under Disequilibrium Chemistry
[astro-ph.EP] Transmission spectroscopy increasingly reduces exoplanet spectra to derived compositional metrics, such as C/O, O/H, and mean molecular weight (MMW), but these quantities do not carry molecular abundance uncertainties in […]