Detail of pāhoehoe lava flows of the Cumbre Vieja eruption from December 2021. The hammer is used a scale. -- JGR Planets

Analog Studies, Away Teams & Field Reports, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Caves, Craters, Mountains, Subsurface, Lava Tubes, Desert Worlds, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Exploration Gear & Tech, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Lava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Polar / Alpine Expeditions, Status Report, Tricorders & Sensors, Venus

Away Team Training: Analogs for VENus’ GEologically Recent Surfaces (AVENGERS) Initiative

by Keith CowingSeptember 19, 2025September 19, 2025

Editor’s note: when it comes to conducting field trips – sorties – Away Team missions – on another world, astrogeology and astrobiology and astrochemistry overlap with one another all the […]

Left: Assumed temperature/pressure structure of the Venus atmosphere. Centre: The concentrations of condensed units ncond/n that deposit and are removed from the model when advancing to the next atmospheric height. Right: Element abundances with respect to oxygen ϵk/ϵO remaining in the gas phase. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report, Venus

Prediction Of Sulphate Hazes In The Lower Venus Atmosphere

by Keith CowingAugust 30, 2025August 30, 2025

We study the amount, size distribution and material composition of (sub-)mic aerosol particles in the lower Venus atmosphere < 50 km.

Europa, Missions & Hardware, Press Release, Venus

Astrobiology Droid Update: Juice Team Resolves Anomaly On Approach To Venus

by Keith CowingAugust 26, 2025

The European Space Agency’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) is on track for its gravity-assist flyby at Venus on 31 August, following the successful resolution of a spacecraft communication anomaly […]

Snapshots of a cross-sectional slice of a head-on collision between a non-rotating Venus and a 0.1 M⊕ impactor at 10 km s−1 . shown at multiple time steps. Initial energy deposition at the impact site generates pressure waves that converge at the antipode, causing significant heating and deformation. The outcome of this collisions is a merger. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrogeology, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Habitable Zones, Impact events, Status Report, Venus

The Possibility Of A Giant Impact On Venus

by Keith CowingAugust 8, 2025August 8, 2025

Giant impacts were common in the early evolution of the Solar System, and it is possible that Venus also experienced an impact. A giant impact on Venus could have affected […]

An artist’s impression of the proposed VERVE mission to Venus the answer whether tiny bacterial lifeforms really do exist in the planet’s clouds. Credit Danielle Futselaar Licence type Attribution (CC BY 4.0)

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Missions & Hardware, Press Release, Venus

The Venus Explorer for Reduced Vapours in the Environment (VERVE)

by Keith CowingJuly 10, 2025July 10, 2025

The answer to whether tiny bacterial lifeforms really do exist in the clouds of Venus could be revealed once-and-for-all by a UK-backed mission.

Eccentricity and position snapshots over time of a simulation using the mixed scenario where all 4 terrestrial planets fit constraints and the Earth analogue had a final CC embryo impact. Snapshots are shown over time, including the moment after the final giant impact. The initial NC embryos and planetesimals are shown with the embryos in black and the planetesimals in orange, as well as the CC embryos and planetesimals in blue with Jupiter and Saturn in black on the far right. The final snapshot is the real solar system. -- astro-ph.EP

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Extinction events, Impact events, Mars, Mercury, Moon, Status Report, Venus

Dynamical Origin Of Theia, The Last Giant Impactor On Earth

by Keith CowingJuly 4, 2025July 4, 2025

Cosmochemical studies have proposed that Earth accreted roughly 5-10% of its mass from carbonaceous (CC) material, with a large fraction delivered late via its final impactor, Theia (the Moon-forming impactor). […]

Venus as seen by Himawari satellites. A photo with magnified sections to show just how small Venus is in the field of view of the observation satellites. Despite this limitation, researchers can still gather useful data. ©2025 Nishiyama et al. CC-BY-ND -- university of Tokyo

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Press Release, Venus

Meteorological Satellites Observe Temperatures On Venus

by Keith CowingJuly 2, 2025July 2, 2025

Imaging data from Japan’s Himawari-8 and -9 meteorological satellites have been successfully used to monitor temporal changes in Venus’ cloud-top temperature, revealing unseen patterns in the temperature structure of various […]

Phase-folded RVs from the best-fit informed RV model with GPs removed. Binned data shown by the large, purple points (10 bins). Phasefolded on the period of the planet (12.761421 d). -- astro-ph.EP

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report, Venus

The Mass Of The Exo-Venus Gliese 12 b, As Revealed By HARPS-N, ESPRESSO, And CARMENES

by Keith CowingJune 27, 2025September 18, 2025

Small temperate planets are prime targets for exoplanet studies due to their possible similarities with the rocky planets in the Solar System.

Impact history should play a crucial role in the search for habitable exoplanets like Earth -- SwRI

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Impact events, Lava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds, Mars, Mercury, Press Release, Venus

Notable Progress In Understanding The Evolution Of The Terrestrial Planets

by Keith CowingJune 18, 2025June 18, 2025

An SwRI-led team compared the early impact history of Venus and Earth, determining that Venus experienced higher-energy impacts that created a superheated core. Models show these conditions could create Venus’ […]

Encircled in purple stratospheric haze, Saturn's largest moon, Titan, appears as a softly glowing sphere in this colorized image taken on July 3, 2004, one day after Cassini's first flyby of that moon. Titan has a dense atmosphere composed primarily of nitrogen with a few percent methane. -- NASA Larger image

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gas Giants, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report, Titan, Venus

Measurement of Photochemical Haze Refractive Indices and Hygroscopicity: Influence of CO2 in CH4/H2S/N2 Mixtures

by Keith CowingJune 10, 2025June 10, 2025

Atmospheric organic hazes are widespread across various planetary bodies and have significant effects on both the surface and atmosphere. In this study, we investigate the optical and hygroscopic properties of […]

Venus

Away Team Training: Analogs for VENus’ GEologically Recent Surfaces (AVENGERS) Initiative

Prediction Of Sulphate Hazes In The Lower Venus Atmosphere

Astrobiology Droid Update: Juice Team Resolves Anomaly On Approach To Venus

The Possibility Of A Giant Impact On Venus

The Venus Explorer for Reduced Vapours in the Environment (VERVE)

Dynamical Origin Of Theia, The Last Giant Impactor On Earth

Meteorological Satellites Observe Temperatures On Venus

The Mass Of The Exo-Venus Gliese 12 b, As Revealed By HARPS-N, ESPRESSO, And CARMENES

Notable Progress In Understanding The Evolution Of The Terrestrial Planets

Measurement of Photochemical Haze Refractive Indices and Hygroscopicity: Influence of CO2 in CH4/H2S/N2 Mixtures

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

2027 Sagan Summer Workshop Exoplanet Masses: In the Era of Gaia and Extreme Precision Radial Velocities