The radius valley carries implications for how the atmospheres of small planets form and evolve, but this feature is only visible with highly-precise characterizations of many small planets.
astro-ph.EP
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Status Report
Biosignature Line Ratios Of [P II] In Exoplanetary And Nebular Environments
Being the backbone element of DNA, phosphorus is a key component in the search for life in the Universe.
Posted inAstrochemistry, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Interstellar, Status Report
A Search For Mid-IR Bands Of Amino Acids In The Perseus Molecular Cloud
Amino acids are building-blocks of proteins, basic constituents of all organisms and essential to life on Earth.
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, SETI & Technosignatures, Societal Issues, Status Report
Inferring The Rate Of Technosignatures From Sixty Years Of Nondetection
For about the last 60 years the search for extraterrestrial intelligence has been monitoring the sky for evidence of remotely detectable technological life beyond Earth, with no positive results to […]
Posted inAstrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Caves, Craters, Mountains, Subsurface, Lava Tubes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Status Report
Redox Evolution Of The Crystallizing Terrestrial Magma Ocean And Its Influence On Atmosphere Outgassing
Magma oceans are episodes of large-scale melting of the mantle of terrestrial planets.
Posted inBiosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report
Polarized Signatures of a Habitable World: Comparing Models of an Exoplanet Earth with Visible and Near-infrared Earthshine Spectra
In the JWST, Extremely Large Telescopes, and LUVOIR era, we expect to characterize a number of potentially habitable Earth-like exoplanets.
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astrogeology, Status Report
Carbon Depletion In The Early Solar System
Earth and other rocky objects in the inner Solar System are depleted in carbon compared to objects in the outer Solar System, the Sun, or the ISM.
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report
A Second Earth-Sized Planet in the Habitable Zone of the M Dwarf, TOI-700
We report the discovery of TOI-700 e, a 0.95 R⊕ planet residing in the Optimistic Habitable Zone (HZ) of its host star.
Posted inAstrochemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Enceladus, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report
Detection Of HCN And Diverse Redox Chemistry In The Plume Of Enceladus
The Cassini spacecraft discovered that Saturn’s moon Enceladus possesses a series of jets erupting from its South Polar Terrain.
Posted inAstrochemistry, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Press Release, Venus
Venus, Phosphine, And The Possibility Of Life
The search for life elsewhere in the universe is one of the central aims of science in the 21st century.