[astro-ph.EP] We present 14 optical imaging and eight optical spectroscopic epochs of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS from Keck/LRIS and Gemini/GMOS, two near-infrared (NIR) imaging epochs from Keck/MOSFIRE, and four NIR spectroscopic […]
astro-ph.EP
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets
ExoVetter and a TESS Exoplanet Transit Search of Kepler Stars as Ground Truth
[astro-ph.EP] We introduce a Python package called exoVetter that produces vetting metrics and visualizations to evaluate transiting exoplanet signals found in high-cadence time-series photometry.
Posted inPLATO
Measuring Masses Of Transiting Earth-like Planets: First Insights From The PLATO RV Data Challenge
[astro-ph.EP] The PLATO Stellar Variability Mitigation Working Group designed a radial-velocity (RV) data challenge to assess the precision and accuracy achievable on RV semi-amplitudes in the context of the future […]
![Atmospheric evolution with and without a post-disk giant impact. Panel 1: The common initial state for a rocky planet with a hydrogen-rich atmosphere. Panels 2a–4a: A giant impact deposits energy into the mantle and core, but the increase in gravitational binding energy dominates, allowing the planet to retain its hydrogen-rich atmosphere and evolve into a sub-Neptune (1.75−3.5 R⊕). Panels 2b–4b: In the absence of such an impact, the planet is less massive, loses its primordial atmosphere under sustained stellar irradiation, and becomes a super-Earth (1−1.75 R⊕). -- [astro-ph.EP]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Retention.png?resize=1200%2C720&ssl=1)
Posted inImpact events
Retention Of Primordial Atmospheres Through Giant Impacts
[astro-ph.EP] Rocky planets the size of Earth or larger are expected to undergo one or more giant impacts during the final stages of their formation.
![Instantaneous zonally-averaged vertical cross-section of H2S (left) and HS (right). The black contour on the left panel corresponds to the bottom and top altitudes of the clouds (Ignatiev et al., 2009; Titov et al., 2018).-- [astro-ph.EP]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/The-impact.png?resize=1200%2C560&ssl=1)
Posted inVenus
The Impact Of The Sulfur Allotropes And Sulfur Hydrides On The Venus Cloud Chemistry
[astro-ph.EP] Venus is home to vivid sulfur chemistry, with SO2 as the major sulfur gas species and a global cloud layer between 47 and~70 km composed of H2SO4 and H2O. […]
Posted inAstrogeology
JWST/MIRI Observations of Amorphous Silicates In Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS
[astro-ph.EP] We present JWST/MIRI Low Resolution Spectroscopy (LRS) of 3I/ATLAS obtained post-perihelion at a heliocentric distance of 2.21 au.
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets
The First Selection Of Optimal Targets For The Lazuli ExtraSolar Coronagraph’s Reflected Starlight Exoplanet Campaign
[astro-ph.EP] Direct detection and characterization of exoplanet atmospheres via reflected starlight enables probes of composition of mature exoplanet systems (since flux is decoupled from age) at closer separations than via […]
![Global map of Enceladus with color and contours indicating the estimated heat flux (in mWm−2 ) calculated from maps of shell thickness [Hemingway and Mittal, 2019]. Our results (Table 1) are plotted as lines using the same color scale as the background. Green labeled boxes show other estimates [Giese et al., 2008; Bland et al., 2012, 2007; Leonard et al., 2021] of paleo-heat fluxes using similar methods.-- [astro-ph.EP]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Paleoheat.png?resize=1200%2C721&ssl=1)
Posted inEnceladus
Paleo-heat Flux Estimates Across Enceladus Derived From Flexural Response Of The Ice Shell
[astro-ph.EP] Saturn’s moon Enceladus has active plumes suggestive of locally high heat fluxes at present, and the present-day heating is reasonably well characterized. However, the moon’s thermal history is not […]
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets
Systematic Uncertainties in Rocky Exoplanet Reflected Light from Incomplete Laboratory BRDF Measurements
[astro-ph.EP] The first observations of short-period rocky exoplanets have initiated the era of terrestrial exoplanet characterization. The interpretation of these observations relies on forward models used in atmospheric and surface […]
Posted inInterstellar
Assessment Of The Mass Loss And Radius Change Of 3I/ATLAS Based On Observed Production Rates
[astro-ph.EP] Formed from the debris of planet formation, interstellar comets provide invaluable insights into the chemical compositions of planetary systems outside of our Solar System.