Gaia - Planetary Perspectives Archives - Page 4 of 36

Maps of annual mean sea ice and continental precipitation (A) and annual mean sea surface temperature (in ocean regions) and surface air temperature (over continents) (B) for simulations with Earth-like ocean salinity (35 g/kg) and obliquity (23.5◦ ), at Archean instellation on the left and present-day instellation on the right. Land contours mapped in the figure (in black) are more detailed than the actual Earth-like continent configuration used in the model. -- astro-ph.EP

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report, Terraforming & Geoengineering, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Synergistic Effects of Ocean Salinity and Planetary Obliquity Enhance Habitability of Cold Exo-Earths

by Keith CowingMay 6, 2026May 6, 2026

Past work has shown that ocean salinity and planetary obliquity both influence the climates of Earth-like exoplanets throughout the habitable zone of Sun-like stars. The effects of salinity and obliquity […]

STEHM flow chart. Green hexagons are input parameters that are calculated by ExoPlex. Orange hexagons are input parameters set within STEHM. Yellow stadiums are components that are explored by STEHM. Arrows indicate how each section of the code interacts with the others. On the bottom right there is a yellow stadium indicating a choice of tectonic regime. This paper is based on a planet with stagnant lid tectonics, however future versions of the STEHM code will also include plate tectonics. -- astro-ph.EP

AI - Data - Apps - Cybernetics, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Habitable Zones, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Smaller Than Earth Habitability Model (STEHM): The Lower Size Limit for Atmosphere Retention in the Habitable Zone

by Keith CowingMay 4, 2026May 4, 2026

With recent advances in exoplanet observational techniques enabling the discovery of increasingly smaller planets, a crucial question emerges in the search for habitable planets: how small can a planet be […]

Biophysics, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Habitable Zones, Radiation, Space Weather & Heliophysics, Status Report

Flare-driven Habitability: Expanding Life’s Potential Around Low-mass Stars

by Keith CowingMay 2, 2026May 2, 2026

The traditional definition of the circumstellar habitable zone (HZ) focuses on liquid water, but neglects the crucial role of ultraviolet (UV) radiation in prebiotic chemistry.

South Korea’s GEO-KOMPSAT-2A satellite captured Super Typhoon Sinlaku from orbit. - JAXA/NOAA

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report

Habitable Planet Orbital Recon: GEO-KOMPSAT-2A Views Super Typhoon Sinlak

by Keith CowingApril 28, 2026April 29, 2026

The image on the left is in TrueColor. The image on the right shows water vapor imagery.

a, (i), Lepidodendron reconstruction; (ii), leaf and leaf scar of Lepidodendron; (iii), Lepidodendron strobile and sporangia; (iv), Lepidodendron sporophyll and sporangia; (v), Lepidodendron sporophyll. b, (i), Tomiostrobus reconstruction, modified after ref. 13; (ii) to (iv), Tomiostrobus (= Annalepis) sporophyll with sporangia from Permian–Triassic transitional Kayitou Formation in South China. c, (i), Pleuromeia reconstruction based on in situ Pleuromeia fossil from Middle Triassic Badong Formation in South China; (ii), Pleuromeia vegetative leaf from Middle Triassic Badong Formation in South China; (iii), Pleuromeia sanxiaensis sporophyll with sporangia from Middle Triassic Badong Formation in South China; (iv), Pleuromeia marginulata sporophyll with sporangia from Middle Triassic Badong Formation in South China. d, (i), One possible reconstruction of the Lepacyclotes (= Annalepis) based on in situ fossils from Middle Triassic Badong Formation in South China; (ii), adaxial side of the Lepacyclotes (= Annalepis) sporophyll with sporangia; (iii), abaxial side of the Lepacyclotes (= Annalepis) sporophyll. e, (i), Another possible reconstruction of the Lepacyclotes (= Annalepis) based on in situ fossils from Middle Triassic Badong Formation in South China; (ii), adaxial side of the Lepacyclotes (= Annalepis) zelleri sporophyll with sporangia from Middle Triassic Badong Formation in South China. f, Lepacyclotes (= Annalepis) zelleri sporophyll assemblage in circle from Middle Triassic Badong Formation in South China. g, adaxial side of the Lepacyclotes (= Annalepis) brevicystis sporophyll with sporangia from Middle Triassic Badong Formation in South China, modified after ref. 29. h, (i), Isoetes sketch; (ii) adaxial side of the Isoetes sporophyll with sporangia. The grey circle inside the sporophyll shows sporangium. -- Nature Ecology & Evolution

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Extinction events, Fossils & Paleontology, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Impact events, Origin & Evolution of Life, Plant Biology, Press Release

How Primitive Plants Evolved To Survive Earth’s Most Catastrophic Extinction Event

by Keith CowingApril 21, 2026April 21, 2026

How primitive plants evolved to survive Earth’s most catastrophic extinction event.

The element abundances in the silicate Earth can be modelled as the result of accretion of three distinct components with distinct element abundances and isotope composition: A: a strongly volatile element depleted and reduced proto-Earth, B: a moderately volatile depleted and more oxidized Moon-forming impactor (Theia) and C: a near chondritic and oxidized late veneer. The absolute abundance of the siderophile and chalcophile elements was modified by core formation following accretion (after Mezger et al., 2021). -- astro-ph.EP

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Comets and Asteroids, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Lava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds, Meteorites & Asteroids, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

From Dust to Planets — A Chemical Perspective

by Keith CowingApril 20, 2026April 20, 2026

Chemical and chronological information preserved in meteorites permits the reconstruction of events and processes in the solar nebula from the formation of the first solids to the accretion of planetary […]

Down to the core. From left to right: When rebuilt outside of living cells, CorM forms dynamic filaments. Cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) image of purified CorM filaments. Successive zoom-ins show the reconstructed 3D electron density map of the CorM filament, followed by the corresponding atomic model, illustrating the filaments’ assembly into a bipolar double-stranded filament. Credit© Springstein et al. / Science

Astropharmacy / Biotechnology, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Habitable Zones, Microbiology & Virology, Nanotechnology & SynBio, Press Release

Anabaena Learns A New Trick – Cyanobacteria Surprise Scientists With Evolutionary Shift

by Keith CowingApril 17, 2026April 17, 2026

Photosynthetic bacteria helped shape Planet Earth. Among them are cyanobacteria that produced the oxygen in our atmosphere and made complex life possible, captivating scientists for decades. Now, researchers at the […]

The concept behind the model is simple: life can travel to and terraform planets around other stars. In doing so, the planet that life travels to becomes more similar to the planet it came from. In this example, life from a planet resembling Earth travels to a red planet. The process plays out again and again. Each time, after being terraformed, a planet becomes more "Earth-like" than would be expected from random chance, given the locations of the planets. However, the focus is not on identifying Earth-like planets. Instead, the aim is to identify any group of planets that are more similar to each other than would be expected by chance, and are localised in space. This technique is agnostic: it does not require making assumptions about habitability or passing judgment on the "kinds of planets" that are amenable to life. -- Institute of Science Tokyo

Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Panspermia, Planetary Protection & Biosafety, Press Release, Terraforming & Geoengineering

Terraforming/Panspermia: A New Way To Detect Life Beyond Earth Without Knowing What Life Looks Like

by Keith CowingApril 16, 2026

A research team of Specially Appointed Associate Professor Harrison B. Smith of Earth-Life Science Institute (ELSI) at Institute of Science Tokyo and Specially Appointed Associate Professor Lana Sinapayen of National […]

[L] NASA ID: art002e000192 art002e000192 (April 3, 2026) -- NASA [R] art002e000193 (April 3, 2026) -- NASA

Artemis & Lunar Exploration, Astronauts and Explorers, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, People Of Astrobiology, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Our Home World As Seen From Spaceship Integrity During Artemis II

by Keith CowingApril 11, 2026

Left: A view of Earth taken by NASA astronaut and Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman from one of the Orion spacecraft’s window after completing the translunar injection burn on April […]

Antarctic Circumpolar Current (Photo: Alfred Wegener Institute / Hanna Knahl, Patrick Scholz)

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Icy Ocean World Recon: How Did Earth’s Most Powerful Ocean Current Form?

by Keith CowingApril 9, 2026April 9, 2026

It transports far more than 100 times as much water as all of the Earth’s rivers combined: The Antarctic Circumpolar Current rushes around the southern continent unhindered by land masses […]

Gaia – Planetary Perspectives

Synergistic Effects of Ocean Salinity and Planetary Obliquity Enhance Habitability of Cold Exo-Earths

Smaller Than Earth Habitability Model (STEHM): The Lower Size Limit for Atmosphere Retention in the Habitable Zone

Flare-driven Habitability: Expanding Life’s Potential Around Low-mass Stars

Habitable Planet Orbital Recon: GEO-KOMPSAT-2A Views Super Typhoon Sinlak

How Primitive Plants Evolved To Survive Earth’s Most Catastrophic Extinction Event

From Dust to Planets — A Chemical Perspective

Anabaena Learns A New Trick – Cyanobacteria Surprise Scientists With Evolutionary Shift

Terraforming/Panspermia: A New Way To Detect Life Beyond Earth Without Knowing What Life Looks Like

Our Home World As Seen From Spaceship Integrity During Artemis II

Icy Ocean World Recon: How Did Earth’s Most Powerful Ocean Current Form?

NASA Spaceline Current Awareness List #1,205 26 June 2026 (Space Life Science Research Results)

PJ Harvey Announces New Song “Voyager”

Searching For Extraterrestrial Intelligence With The SKA

Mars Perseverance Image of the Week for Week 280 (June 21 – 27, 2026)

The Earthling Ovary Blueprint Is Ancient According To Sea Stars