The inside of Enceladus larger image -- ESA

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Enceladus, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Missions & Hardware, Press Release, Saturn, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Cassini Proves The Existence Of Complex Chemistry Within Enceladus’ Ocean

by Keith CowingOctober 1, 2025October 1, 2025

Scientists digging through data collected by the Cassini spacecraft have found new complex organic molecules spewing from Saturn’s moon Enceladus. This is a clear sign that complex chemical reactions are […]

The rings of Saturn and Uranus as imaged by JWST NIRCam. These images provide an empirical example in which the flux of the ring system is comparable to, or even exceeds, that of the planet when observed with NIRCam. The image of Saturn was created using data from JWST GTO 1247.a The image of Uranus was created using data from JWST DD 2739.b -- astro-ph.EP

Astronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release, Proxima Centauri, Saturn, tau Ceti, Uranus

On the Detection Of Exorings in Reflected Light With JWST NIRCam

by Keith CowingSeptember 19, 2025September 19, 2025

When directly imaging a cold giant exoplanet hosting a ring system, the reflected light from the rings can outshine the planet’s thermal emission and reflected-light in the near-infrared.

An artist’s impression of plumes erupting onto the surface of Enceladus. Its fellow moon Titan is seen in the sky, and the distant Sun beyond. Credit ESA/Science Office. Larger image

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Enceladus, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release, Saturn

Study Questions Oceanic Origin Of Organics In Enceladus’s Plumes

by Keith CowingSeptember 9, 2025September 9, 2025

Organic molecules detected in the watery plumes that spew out from cracks in the surface of Enceladus could be formed through exposure to radiation on Saturn’s icy moon, rather than […]

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exploration Gear & Tech, Gas Giants, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Jupiter, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, Saturn, Video, Audio, Webcasts, Podcasts, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Video: A Preview Of Future Gas Giant Exploration

by Keith CowingAugust 18, 2025August 18, 2025

Imagine what a future Astrobiology droid might see as it flies through clouds on Jupiter or Saturn looking for biosignatures.

Average completeness (purple), number of planets before correction (red) and number of planets after correction (green) inside each bin (blue lines). Blue and orange circles represent cold Jupiters with and without inner super-Earth companions respectively. The contours on the left panel correspond to detection completeness of stars from the sample hosting at least one super-Earth. On the right panel, the contours correspond to detection completeness of stars that do not host super-Earths. Note that dividing the red number by the purple number gives an approximation of the green number. -- astro-ph.EP

Astronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gas Giants, Jupiter, Saturn, Status Report

Saturns, But Not Super-Jupiters, Occur More Frequently In The Presence Of Inner Super-Earths

by Keith CowingJune 27, 2025June 27, 2025

Studies from recent years have reached different conclusions regarding how frequently super-Earths are accompanied by long period giant planets and vice versa. This relation has been predicted to be mass […]

Binary collision-induced H2–He absorption coefficient, α, normalized by the hydrogen and helium gas densities, as function of frequency in the fundamental band, at 296 K. The parato-ortho distribution, is representative of equilibrium H2, just as in Fig. 2. Our model (“this work”), is compared with the model of Abel et al.17 for T = 300K, and with the laboratory measurements of Vitali et al. 18 and Brodbeck et al.19 , both of which were made near 296 K. We note that neither our model nor that of Abel et al. considered the discrete, intercollisional interference dips present in the laboratory spectra. -- astro-ph.EP

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gas Giants, Ice Giant, Jupiter, Neptune, Saturn, Status Report, Uranus

Improved H2-He and H2-H2 Collision-Induced Absorption Models and Application to Outer-Planet Atmospheres

by Keith CowingJune 15, 2025June 13, 2025

Using state-of-the-art ab initio interaction-induced dipole and potential-energy surfaces for hydrogen-helium (H2-He) pairs, we compute the rototranslational collision-induced absorption coefficient at 40-400 K for frequencies covering 0-4000 cm-1.

Wolf 359 images from NIRCam (blue) and MIRI (red) before and after PSF subtraction. PSF subtraction was performed in order to improve the sensitivity to finding faint astrophysical sources near the star. The white circle represents an angular separation of 15 AU for the Wolf 359 system. The dark spots in the background of the PSF subtracted frames are due to positive sources in the reference star frames; this issue is expected to be mitigated in future analysis when additional reference stars are available. In the MIRI F2100W frames, an image artifact is present approximately 75 pixels above the center of the star. Future proper motion followup observations are needed to identify if uncataloged point sources are co-moving companions. -- astro-ph.EP

Astronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gas Giants, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Jupiter, Saturn, Status Report

JWST MIRI Imaging Can Directly Detect Exoplanets Of The Same Temperature, Mass, Age, And Orbital Separation As Saturn And Jupiter

by Keith CowingMay 23, 2025May 23, 2025

NIRCam and MIRI coronagraphy have successfully demonstrated the ability to directly image young sub-Jupiter mass and mature gas-giant exoplanets.

These infrared-light images of Titan were taken by the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope on 11 July 2023. They show methane clouds appearing at different altitudes in Titan’s northern hemisphere. On the left side is a representative-colour image (1.4 microns is coloured blue, 1.5 microns is green, and 2.0 microns is red: filters F140M, F150W, and F200W, respectively). In the middle is a single-wavelength image taken by Webb at 2.12 microns. This wavelength is predominantly emitted from Titan’s lower troposphere. The rightmost image shows emission at 1.64 microns, which favours higher altitudes, in Titan’s upper troposphere and stratosphere (an atmospheric layer above the troposphere). Larger image

Astronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Missions & Hardware, Press Release, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, Saturn, Titan

Webb Telescope Studies The Weather On Titan – A Prime Astrobiology Target

by Keith CowingMay 14, 2025May 14, 2025

A science team has combined data from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope and the Keck II telescope to see evidence of cloud convection on Saturn’s moon Titan in the […]

Water line area maps expressed in units of µmˆ% of continuum. The four observation time windows are July 2011 at 67.09 µm, February 2012 at 66.44 and 67.09 µm, July-August 2012 at 66.44 and 67.09 µm, and January-February 2013 at 66.44 and 67.09 µm. Saturn’s 1-bar level is represented by the black ellipse, with the north pole facing upwards. A selection of iso-latitudes are plotted with grey lines. The rotation axis corresponds to the thin dashed black line. The beam spatial extent is illustrated by the circle in a dashed blue line. The black dots correspond to the central position of the spatial pixels. The position and extension of the beacon (see Table 3) at mid-observation time is represented with the thick dashed black lines. A cubic interpolation was applied to the data. -- astro-ph.EP

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Enceladus, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Saturn, Status Report

Temporal Evolution Of Water Abundance In Saturn’s Hot Vortex Of 2011-2013

by Keith CowingMay 8, 2025May 8, 2025

Water vapour is delivered to Saturn’s stratosphere by Enceladus’ plumes and subsequent diffusion in the planet system. It is expected to condense into a haze in the middle stratosphere.

This artist's concept shows Orbilander in its landed configuration on Saturn's moon Enceladus. Image: Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory

Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Enceladus, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Missions & Hardware, Reports, Roadmaps, & Plans, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, Saturn, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Enceladus Orbilander Flagship Mission

by Keith CowingApril 28, 2025April 28, 2025

The second-highest priority new Flagship mission in Origins, Worlds, and Life: A Decadal Strategy for Planetary Science and Astrobiology 2023-2032 is the Enceladus Orbilander [1].

Saturn

Cassini Proves The Existence Of Complex Chemistry Within Enceladus’ Ocean

On the Detection Of Exorings in Reflected Light With JWST NIRCam

Study Questions Oceanic Origin Of Organics In Enceladus’s Plumes

Video: A Preview Of Future Gas Giant Exploration

Saturns, But Not Super-Jupiters, Occur More Frequently In The Presence Of Inner Super-Earths

Improved H2-He and H2-H2 Collision-Induced Absorption Models and Application to Outer-Planet Atmospheres

JWST MIRI Imaging Can Directly Detect Exoplanets Of The Same Temperature, Mass, Age, And Orbital Separation As Saturn And Jupiter

Webb Telescope Studies The Weather On Titan – A Prime Astrobiology Target

Temporal Evolution Of Water Abundance In Saturn’s Hot Vortex Of 2011-2013

Enceladus Orbilander Flagship Mission

Material Cycling Across Earth’s Spheres And Triggers Of Cambrian Explosion: A Tectonic Perspective

Where Does Earth’s Nitrogen Go? Two Atoms Offer A Clue

Exotic Methanol Discovered In Planet-Building Zones

More Than One Thousand TESS Planets

First Detection Of Variable Water Clouds Outside Of Our Solar System

Life And Space 2026

AGU annual Meeting 2026

Community Workshop: The Mission to Enceladus – The ESA L4 Mission

Rogue Worlds 3

NRAO CosmicAI Virtual Winter School