Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography Archives

Snapshots show planetary seeds’ growth and migration from two rings of material. This simulation comes from our M6T2 scenario. The top-left panel shows the starting time of the simulation. The time of each snapshot is shown on the bottom-left of each panel. The color of each dot corresponds to the water mass fraction of each planetary seed. We plot planetesimal and pebble isolation masses with dotted and dashed lines, respectively. The planetesimal isolation mass is obtained by extrapolating the initial surface density of the inner planetesimal disk. The vertical blue dashed line shows the location of the water condensation line. The blue solid line is the boundary of the inward and outward migration where the migration torque is zero. -- astro-ph.EP

Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Formation of Super-Earths and Mini-Neptunes From Rings of Planetesimals

by Keith CowingJanuary 8, 2025

The solar system planetary architecture has been proposed to be consistent with the terrestrial and giant planets forming from material rings at ~1 au and ~5 au, respectively.

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Conferences and Meetings, Europa, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Online Meeting: Ocean Worlds Observations: Europa Clipper Instruments & Earth Mission Analogs

by Keith CowingJanuary 7, 2025January 7, 2025

Wednesday, January 8th at 3PM ET / 12PM PT

Several key access “windows” provide entry points to the crustal biosphere: 1 Hydrothermal vents at mid-ocean ridges (MORs), featuring both diffuse and focused high-temperature flows (up to ~400°C) and event plumes associated with seafloor eruptions; 2 Warm water seeps (

Astrogeology, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Habitable Zones, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Microbiology & Virology, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

The Subseafloor Crustal Biosphere: Ocean’s Hidden Biogeochemical Reactor

by Keith CowingJanuary 7, 2025January 7, 2025

Underlying the thick sediment layer in ocean basins, the flow of seawater through the cracked and porous upper igneous crust supports a previously hidden and largely unexplored active subsurface microbial […]

Time averages of the surface temperature for the 1st quintile of the training and test models in rotation period, ordered fastest to slowest. While the rotation periods are organized in increasing order from top left to bottom right, the remaining spin and orbital parameters (obliquity, eccentricity, and longitude of periapse) vary according to the configuration from the Latin Hypercube Sampling algorithm, and are themselves not in any particular order. -- astro-ph.EP

Analog Studies, Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Habitability in 4-D: Predicting the Climates of Earth Analogs across Rotation and Orbital Configurations

by Keith CowingJanuary 7, 2025January 7, 2025

Earth-like planets in the circumstellar habitable zone (HZ) may have dramatically different climate outcomes depending on their spin-orbit parameters, altering their habitability for life as we know it.

A Tetracorder map of the Moon showing water absorption areas (with an Earth-based image of the Moon in the center right to establish the boundaries of this map).

Astrogeology, Away Teams & Field Reports, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Exploration Gear & Tech, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Missions & Hardware, Press Release, Tricorders & Sensors, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Planetary Orbital Surveys Using A Tetracorder

by Keith CowingJanuary 6, 2025January 6, 2025

In Star Trek, the intrepid explorers use a handheld device called a tricorder to sense, record and compute environmental data. But scientists in the real world have one-upped our fictional friends […]

An alien ocean -- Grok via Astrobiology.com

Analog Studies, Arctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Away Teams & Field Reports, Caves, Craters, Mountains, Subsurface, Lava Tubes, Exploration Gear & Tech, Habitable Zones, Polar / Alpine Expeditions, Reports, Roadmaps, & Plans, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

A Comprehensive Framework For Assessing Terrestrial Analogue Field Sites For Ocean Worlds

by Keith CowingJanuary 6, 2025January 5, 2025

Field studies at terrestrial analogue sites represent an important contribution to the science of ocean worlds.

Photo of Kaitlyn Beardshear on top of DSV Alvin. Kaitlyn is an Alvin Swimmer helping in the vehicle recovery process after a dive. Credit: Kaitlyn Beardshear, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Away Teams & Field Reports, Exploration Gear & Tech, Icy Worlds, Life Support Systems, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Missions & Hardware, People Of Astrobiology, Press Release, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Water Planet Exploration: The Youngest Pilot Of DSV Alvin

by Keith CowingJanuary 4, 2025

The Wood Holes Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) recently announced the newest human-occupied vehicle (HOV) Alvin pilot, Kaitlyn Beardshear.  

Two of the most-discussed observations of potential liquid water activity on the surface of Mars. (A) Images of droplets on the Phoenix Lander struts (each colored arrow indicates a different droplet) that have been observed to change in size and darkness over the course of the mission. These droplets were interpreted as grains of salts experiencing deliquescence and efflorescence. Figure adapted from ref. 28. (B) Sequence of images from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter HiRISE camera showing recurring slope lineae (white arrows) on the slopes in a crater in Terra Cimmeria (Latitude: −32°, Longitude: 140.8°). The images are taken during the southern summer of Mars year 30 and show the evolution of dark streaks on the surface. Images credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona. Uploaded by Surajt88 at en.wikipedia, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Analog Studies, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Fossils & Paleontology, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Mars, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

The Elusive Nature Of Martian Liquid Brines

by Keith CowingJanuary 4, 2025January 4, 2025

The possible presence of brines on Mars adds an intriguing dimension to the exploration of Martian environments.

The spatial coverage of our study of L 1688A, with the underlying extinction map being computed using 2MASS catalog (Cutri et al. 2003) adopting the NICE technique from Lada et al. (1994). The color bar shows the extinction range. The red square encloses the area of the W band observations covering a field of 20′ × 20′ corresponding to a linear scale of 0.8 pc. -- astro-ph.SR

Astrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Brown Dwarfs, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gaia Mission, Icy Worlds, Interstellar, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Water-Bearing Objects in the Core of the Rho Ophiuchi Cloud Complex

by Keith CowingJanuary 3, 2025January 3, 2025

We present a study of very low-mass stars and brown dwarfs in the rich star-forming core of the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex. The selection of the sample relies on detecting […]

This Cassini Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS) global mosaic of Titan's surface brightness in the near-infrared at 938 nm wavelength shows the distribution of Titan's wide variety of landforms, from the vast equatorial sand seas to the high-latitude lakes and seas of liquid hydrocarbons. -- NASA

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Icy Worlds, Missions & Hardware, Status Report, Titan, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Open Questions and Future Directions in Titan Science

by Keith CowingJanuary 3, 2025January 3, 2025

In this chapter we attempt to distill the very large number of possible future inquiries of Titan into a relatively concise list of twenty high level questions – each of […]