Observing habitable exoplanets that may resemble Earth is a key priority in astronomy that is dependent on not only detecting such worlds, but also ascertaining that apparent signatures of habitability […]
astro-ph.EP
Posted inBiosignatures & Paleobiology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Plant Biology, Press Release
Linking Common Multispectral Vegetation Indices to Hyperspectral Mixture Models
For decades, agronomists have used remote sensing to monitor key crop parameters like biomass, fractional cover, and plant health. Vegetation indices (VIs) are popular for this purpose, primarily leveraging the […]
Posted inEnceladus, Icy Worlds, Press Release
A Mushy Source For The Geysers Of Enceladus
Enceladus is a primary target for astrobiology due to the salty plume ejecta measured by the Cassini spacecraft and the inferred subsurface ocean sustained by tidal heating. Sourcing the plumes […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release
Characterization Of Exoplanetary Atmospheres With SLOPpy
Transmission spectroscopy is among the most fruitful techniques to infer the main opacity sources present in the upper atmosphere of a transiting planet and to constrain the composition of the […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Europa, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Missions & Hardware, Press Release
Constraining Europa’s Subsolar Atmosphere With A Joint Analysis Of HST Spectral Images And Galileo Magnetic Field Data
We constrain Europa’s tenuous atmosphere on the subsolar hemisphere by combining two sets of observations: oxygen emissions at 1304 Å and 1356 Å from Hubble Space Telescope (HST) spectral images, […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release
Atmospheric Monitoring and Precise Spectroscopy of the HR 8799 Planets with SCExAO/CHARIS
The atmospheres of gas giant planets are thought to be inhomogeneous due to weather and patchy clouds. We present two full nights of coronagraphic observations of the HR 8799 planets […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Press Release
Webb Space Telescope Identification Of Carbon Dioxide In An Exoplanet Atmosphere
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a key chemical species that is found in a wide range of planetary atmospheres. In the context of exoplanets, CO2 is an indicator of the metal […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Press Release
Is Ozone A Reliable Proxy For Molecular Oxygen? I. The O2-O3 Relationship For Earth-like Atmospheres
Molecular oxygen (O2) paired with a reducing gas is regarded as a promising biosignature pair for the atmospheric characterization of terrestrial exoplanets. In circumstances when O2 may not be detectable […]
Posted inMars, Press Release
A Two Martian Years Survey of Water Ice Clouds on Mars with ACS onboard TGO
The middle infrared (MIR) channel of the Atmospheric Chemistry Suite (ACS) instrument onboard the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) ESA-Roscosmos mission has performed Solar occultation measurements of the Martian atmosphere […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Press Release
Chemical Evolution In Ices On Drifting, Planet-forming Pebbles
Image: Abundances of volatile ices on a drifting pebble as a function of radius (time), where the pebbles moves inwards with time. Left is drift from 128AU, right is drift […]