Ultraviolet flare emission can drive photochemistry in exoplanet atmospheres and even serve as the primary source of uncertainty in atmospheric retrievals. Additionally, flare energy budgets are not well-understood due to […]
Stellar Cartography
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Beta Pictoris, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gaia Mission, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report, Stellar Cartography
Detection And Characterisation Of Giant Planets With Gaia Astrometry
Astrometric observations with Gaia are expected to play a valuable role in future exoplanet surveys. With current data from Gaia’s third data release (DR3), we are sensitive to periods from […]
![Top panel: Comparison of our determined [Fe/H] values (blue line) against the reported metallicity from Mann et al. (2015), Passegger et al. (2019), Maldonado et al. (2020), Marfil et al. (2021) and Cristofari et al. (2022). The red shaded area represents the typical distribution of M dwarfs metallicity from SDSS DR18 (Almeida et al. 2023). Bottom panel: Residuals are plotted to compare the median metallicity values from all referenced studies against each individual work. All measurements are consistent. -- astro-ph.SR](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Chemical-Fingerprints-of-M-Dwarfs.png?resize=1200%2C717&ssl=1)
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release, Stellar Cartography
Chemical Fingerprints of M Dwarfs: High-Resolution Spectroscopy on 31 M Dwarfs with SPIRou
We extend the methodology introduced by Jahandar et al. (2024) to determine the effective temperature and chemical abundances of 31 slowly-rotating solar neighborhood M dwarfs (M1-M5) using high-resolution spectra from […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Intelligence & Language, Interstellar, Origin & Evolution of Life, People Of Astrobiology, Press Release, SETI & Technosignatures, Stellar Cartography
A New Model Calculates The Chances Of Intelligent Life Elsewhere
The chances of intelligent life emerging in our Universe – and in any hypothetical ones beyond it – can be estimated by a new theoretical model which has echoes of […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Proxima Centauri, Radiation, Status Report, Stellar Cartography
X-Ray, UV, and Optical Observations of Proxima Centauri’s Stellar Cycle
Proxima Cen (GJ 551; dM5.5e) is one of only about a dozen fully convective stars known to have a stellar cycle, and the only one to have long-term X-ray monitoring.
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Brown Dwarfs, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gas Giants, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report, Stellar Cartography
A Generative Model for Gaia Astrometric Orbit Catalogs: Selection Functions for Binary Stars, Giant Planets, and Compact Object Companions
Astrometry from Gaia DR3 has produced a sample of ∼170,000 Keplerian orbital solutions, with many more anticipated in the next few years. These data have enormous potential to constrain the […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report, Stellar Cartography
Ultraviolet Photometry and Habitable Zones of Over 2700 Planet-Hosting Stars
The ongoing discovery of exoplanets has sparked significant interest in finding suitable worlds that could potentially support life. Stellar ultraviolet (UV; 100-3000 Å) radiation may play a crucial role in […]
![[left] A Hubble Space Telescope false-color view of a 100-billion-mile-wide disk of dust around the summer star Vega. Hubble detects reflected light from dust that is the size of smoke particles largely in a halo on the periphery of the disk. The disk is very smooth, with no evidence of embedded large planets. The black spot at the center blocks out the bright glow of the hot young star. [right] The James Webb Space Telescope resolves the glow of warm dust in a disk halo, at 23 billion miles out. The outer disk (analogous to the solar system’s Kuiper Belt) extends from 7 billion miles to 15 billion miles. The inner disk extends from the inner edge of the outer disk down to close proximity to the star. There is a notable dip in surface brightness of the inner disk from approximately 3.7 to 7.2 billion miles. The black spot at the center is due to lack of data from saturation. NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, S. Wolff (University of Arizona), K. Su (University of Arizona), A. Gáspár (University of Arizona) larger image](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Hubble-And-Webb-Study-The-Surprisingly.png?resize=1200%2C641&ssl=1)
Posted inAstrogeology, Astronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Fomalhaut, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release, Stellar Cartography
Hubble And Webb Study The Surprisingly Smooth Disk Around Vega
In the 1997 movie “Contact,” adapted from Carl Sagan’s 1985 novel, the lead character scientist Ellie Arroway (played by actor Jodi Foster) takes a space-alien-built wormhole ride to the star […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report, Stellar Cartography
High Precision Astrometry Science In The Context of Space Mission Prospectives
Astrometry is one of the oldest branches of astronomy which measures the position, the proper motion and parallax of celestial objects.
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Status Report, Stellar Cartography
Dust Extinction-curve Variation In The Translucent Interstellar Medium Is Driven By PAH Growth
The first all-sky, high-resolution, 3D map of the optical extinction curve of the Milky Way (Zhang & Green 2024) revealed an unexpected steepening of the extinction curve in the moderate-density, […]