astorchemistry Archives

Model of the observed distribution of CO2 based on our results shown in Figure 4. The resolution and the subobserver point are aligned with the JWST's observation (2.7°N, 93°W; S. K. Trumbo & M. E. Brown 2023; G. Villanueva et al. 2023). Additionally, the cross section from the observer's perspective is considered. As a result, the intensity around the north pole seems stronger than around the south pole (a). The regions surrounded by white lines are Tara Regio (∼10°S, 75°W) and Powys Regio (∼0°S, 150°W) (E. J. Leonard et al. 2024). -- The Planetary Science Journal

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Cryobiology, Europa, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Equatorial CO2 Distribution Suggests Active CO2 Supply on Europa

by Keith CowingMay 7, 2025

The James Webb Space Telescope’s (JWST) observation of Europa recently revealed CO2 accumulation around geologically young chaos terrains Tara Regio and Powys Regio.

Thousands of millimetric grains assemble into a cluster after colliding with each other in microgravity for a few minutes. Shaken and charged on their way to space, the tiny particles bind together in lumps of about three centimetres. Larger image

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Interstellar, Press Release

From Pebbles To Planets

by Keith CowingMarch 20, 2025March 20, 2025

Scientists are studying this collision-driven growth to understand how planets are born. Planets are formed when dust and rock in a disc around a young star collide and combine to […]

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Cryobiology, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Missions & Hardware, Radiation, Status Report

Ionizing Radiation Exposure On Arrokoth Shapes A Sugar World

by Keith CowingDecember 9, 2024December 9, 2024

The flyby of the New Horizons spacecraft of the Kuiper Belt Object Arrokoth revealed its reddish appearance and unraveled the unexpected presence of a methanol-rich surface.

A schematic figure of our physical model with the transport of particles and vapor in a uniform disk (top) and a disk with gaps created by young forming planets (bottom). -- astro-ph.EP

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Icy Worlds, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Water Enrichment from Pebble Drift in Disks with Gap-forming Planets

by Keith CowingDecember 9, 2024December 9, 2024

Volatiles like H2O are present as ice in solids in the outer cold regions of protoplanetary disks and as vapor in the warm inner regions within the water snow line.

Sulfur distribution on the surface of Mercury expressed as S/Si (Nittler et al., 2020). The highest S abundances 90 degrees west at the equator and north of it coincides with the highest Ca and Mg abundances, referred to as the high magnesium region (HMR) (reproduced from Nittler et al., 2020). -- astro-ph.EP

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Lava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Mercury, Moon, Status Report

Sulfur In The Moon And Mercury

by Keith CowingOctober 29, 2024October 29, 2024

This chapter presents a comprehensive overview of the abundances and distribution of S, and the processes that control the behavior of S on the Earth’s Moon and on Mercury. The […]

Overview of our models for gas disk and particles evolution in different disk regions. The blue and yellow particles represent silicates with and without refractory carbon. The light blue particles represent icy pebbles. The pink particles show the oxygen atoms which are formed by the destruction of oxygen molecules because of the FUV radiation which is described as red arrows. The light blue dashed line is the snow line. Icy pebbles enclosing many small silicates drift to the snow line (blue dashed line) from the outer region. Orange upper and lower layers are FUV-exposed regions, where oxygen atoms exist. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Status Report

Effect of Different Stickiness Between Icy and Silicate Particles on Carbon Depletion in Protoplanetary Disks

by Keith CowingOctober 12, 2024October 12, 2024

Earth and other rocky bodies in the inner Solar System are significantly depleted in carbon compared to the Sun and interstellar medium (ISM) dust.

Astrochemistry, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Nanotechnology & SynBio, Status Report

Reactant Discovery with an Ab Initio Nanoreactor: Exploration of Astrophysical N-Heterocycle Precursors and Formation Pathways

by Keith CowingSeptember 30, 2024September 29, 2024

The incorporation of nitrogen atoms into cyclic compounds is essential for terrestrial life; nitrogen-containing (N-)heterocycles make up DNA and RNA nucleobases, several amino acids, B vitamins, porphyrins, and other components […]

Zonally and temporally averaged snow fraction for our reference non-impacted model (top left) and at three points in time post-impact for our combined water and heat deposition impact model: 6 months post-impact (top right), 1 year post-impact (bottom left), and 15 years post-impact (bottom right), by which time the impacted models snow fraction has returned to a state clost to that found in our non-impacted reference state. -- astro-ph.EP

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Comets and Asteroids, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Extinction events, Icy Worlds, Impact events

The Impact of Icy Cometary ‘Impacts’ on Exoplanetary Atmospheres I: Tidally-Locked Terrestrial Exoplanets

by Keith CowingSeptember 18, 2024

Impacts by rocky and icy bodies are thought to have played a key role in shaping the composition of solar system objects, including the Earth’s habitability. Hence, it is likely […]

Calibrated images of Ganymede’s 630.0 nm auroral emission displayed in 20 R contours. To better reveal the spatial variability we smoothed the data using a Gaussian kernel with a FWHM of 0. ′′5 approximating typical seeing conditions for the morning of 2021-06-08 UTC. The time in the upper left of each image is the UTC time at the start of the observation, the annotation in the lower right is the distance to the plasma sheet centrifugal equator; positive when Ganymede is above the mid-plane and negative when it is below. As Ganymede moved vertically through the plasma sheet, the hemisphere closest to the mid-plane exhibited the brightest aurora. From approximately 14:00 to 14:45 UTC, Ganymede is within ±0.5 RJ and the brightness is more evenly-distributed across the disk. Ganymede passed through the highestdensity plasma mid-plane at 14:20 UTC, so the top two rows display data when Ganymede was above the mid-plane (with enhanced brightness at southern latitudes) and the bottom row displays data when Ganymede was below the mid-plane (with enhanced brightness at northern latitudes). Because of the blurring effect of atmospheric seeing, the calibrated brightness distribution of the individual pixels is lower than the disk-averaged value reported in de Kleer et al. (2023) and table 1, which assume all emission originates from a disk with Ganymede’s solid-angular size. The white grid shows the physical size and orientation of Ganymede, with north pointing upward (for more details on this observing geometry, see figure 2). -- astro-ph.EP

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Ganymede, Icy Worlds, Jupiter, Space Weather & Heliophysics, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Short-Timescale Spatial Variability of Ganymede’s Optical Aurora

by Keith CowingSeptember 11, 2024September 11, 2024

Ganymede’s aurora are the product of complex interactions between its intrinsic magnetosphere and the surrounding Jovian plasma environment and can be used to derive both atmospheric composition and density.

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Meteorites & Asteroids, Status Report

On The Correlation Between the Enantiomeric Excess of L-isovaline and the Level of Aqueous Alteration in Carbonaceous Meteorites

by Keith CowingJuly 7, 2024July 6, 2024

A positive correlation was observed between the enantiomeric excess (ee) of L-isovaline (L-iVal) and the degree of aqueous alteration (AqA) of carbonaceous meteorites. The origin of this remarkable phenomenon has […]