astrochemistry Archives

Hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor spew black smoke, which forms when super-hot vent water hits the cold ocean. Scientists view them as candidates for where life may have started, because they provide heat, minerals and chemical energy that early life could have used to form and grow. Richard Lutz

Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Caves, Craters, Mountains, Subsurface, Lava Tubes, Fossils & Paleontology, Habitable Zones, Impact events, Meteorites & Asteroids, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release

Did Impacts From Meteors Help Start Life On Earth?

by Keith CowingApril 1, 2026April 1, 2026

Meteor impacts may have helped spark life on Earth, creating hot, chemical-rich environments where the first living cells could take shape, according to research integrated by a recent Rutgers University […]

Protocell formation on a scoriaceous micrometeorite. A scanning electron microscope image section of the micrometeorite (left), fluorescence microscope micrograph of protocells on the surface of the micrometeorite (right). Phospholipid membranes in the fluorescence micrograph are composed of Escherichia coli (E.coli) and soybean plant lipids, labeled with 1 wt% ATTO 655-DOPE. Unilamellar vesicles have only a thin fluorescent rim, while multilamellar membrane reservoirs are onion shell vesicles composed of densely packed lipid membranes. -- Astrobiology

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Impact events, Meteorites & Asteroids, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report

From Space Dust To Protocells: Micrometeorites In Early Cellular Evolution

by Keith CowingMarch 31, 2026March 31, 2026

Solid surfaces have long been considered catalysts in prebiotic chemistry, yet their physical energy has rarely been explored as a driver of protocell assembly.

The green-to-red intensity ratio of [O I] (G/R) in 3I (filled circle), compared with measurements for a sample of Solar System comets: Jupiter-family comets (JFCs; open triangles), Oort Cloud comets (OCCs; open squares), and Halley-type comets (HTCs; crosses) from A. Decock et al. (2013); A. McKay et al. (2015); Y. Shinnaka & H. Kawakita (2016); Y. Shinnaka et al. (2020), as well as C/2016 R2 from C. Opitom et al. (2019) and 2I/Borisov from C. Opitom et al. (2021). -- astro-ph.GA

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Status Report

A Post-perihelion Constraint On The CO2/H2O Ratio Of Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS From [O I] Forbidden Lines

by Keith CowingMarch 31, 2026March 31, 2026

We present high-resolution optical spectroscopy of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS (C/2025 N1) obtained with the High Dispersion Spectrograph mounted on the Subaru Telescope on UT 2026 January 7, when the comet […]

A region in Ursa Major with maps of individual simulation components and their sum; these have been evaluated for a spectral channel centered on 0.803 µm. The color schemes vary in order to best illustrate the features of the individual signals. Notice how the scan pattern manifests in several of the components. The contributing images were generated with the Sky Simulator described in B. P. Crill et al. (2025). Real flag masks (Sec. 3.2) have been applied and are most noticeable at the centers of bright stars. -- astro-ph.IM

Astrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Missions & Hardware, Status Report

Spectral Map Making With SPHEREx

by Keith CowingMarch 30, 2026March 30, 2026

We present map-making methodologies and preliminary spectral data cubes for SPHEREx, a NASA Explorer mission that launched in March 2025 and has been performing an all-sky near-infrared spectral survey.

Upper Panels. Maps of N×ρ for CO, CO2, CH4, CH3OH, and H2O. The white arrow shows the projected direction of the Sun. Lower. Maps of molecular rotational temperatures. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrochemistry, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Status Report

Coma Physics Of An Interstellar Object: JWST Spatial-Spectral Mapping Of 3I/ATLAS

by Keith CowingMarch 30, 2026March 30, 2026

We report a survey of molecular emission from cometary volatiles using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) toward interstellar object 3I/ATLAS carried out on UT 2025 December 22 and 23 […]

Observed Stereoisomeric Ratio (OSR) - defined as the column density ratio between the higher and the lower-energy isomer - for the different stereoisomeric pairs gathered in Table 1 (points), overlaid with the thermodynamic equilibrium prediction (g×e−∆E/Tkin at g = 1, colored area), as a function of the relative energy (∆E= Ehigher- Elower) between isomers. The points corresponding to the detections are colored according to the particular source Tkin (see Tables 1 and 2), following the color code of the vertical bar. For CH3CH2OH, CH3CH2OCHO, CH2CHCH2CN, CH3CH2CH2CN and (CH3)2CHOH, the observational points were “corrected” (indicated with *) accounting for the double degeneracy of one of the isomers in the pair (the higher-energy for the first three, the lower-energy for the last two), multiplying the corresponding ratios shown in Table 1 by 1/g=1/2, 1/2, 1/2, 2 and 2, respectively, to match the displayed thermodynamic prediction which omits this fact. -- astro-ph.GA

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

Interstellar Stereoisomerism

by Keith CowingMarch 29, 2026March 29, 2026

The increasing detection of new molecules in the interstellar medium (ISM) shows that stereoisomerism is a fundamental contributor to interstellar molecular complexity.

Astrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Status Report

Benchmarking Astrochemistry Paradigms: Relative Absence of C6H5CN+ in the Diffuse ISM

by Keith CowingMarch 27, 2026March 27, 2026

The detectability of C6H5CN+ (benzonitrile cation) in the diffuse ISM is re-evaluated. A holistic evidentiary framework suggests C6H5CN+ is relatively absent in the diffuse ISM owing to the following concurrently: […]

ISO Short Wavelength Spectrometer (SWS) spectrum of the Galactic source, W33A, an extremely embedded high-mass young stellar object (Gibb et al. 2004). This source exhibits strong ice absorption features due to H2O, CH3OH, CO2, XCN, CO, and weaker 13CO2 and OCS features. Also shown are the SPHEREx Bands 4, 5, and 6, along with their respective spectral resolving powers, λ/∆λ (see Table 1). -- astro-ph.GA

Astrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Missions & Hardware, Status Report

The SPHEREx Ices Investigation: An Overview

by Keith CowingMarch 25, 2026March 25, 2026

SPHEREx is a NASA mission designed to perform an all-sky spectroscopic survey in the 0.75 – 5 μm wavelength range. Its primary science objectives are to investigate: (1) inflationary cosmology, […]

(a) 1 mm continuum image of G358.93-0.03. Contour levels correspond to (20, 40, 80, 120, 200, 500, 1000, 1700) × σ, where σ is the rms noise level. The white ellipse in the lower-left corner indicates the synthesized beam 0.15"×0.1" (position angle -87.1◦ ). (b) Enlarged view of MM1. The continuum peak is marked by a white cross, and the offset extraction position used for spectral analysis is marked by a red cross. (c-e) Integrated intensity (Moment-0) maps of NH2CHO, CH3C(O)NH2, and syn-HOCH2C(O)NH2 toward G358.93 MM1, overlaid with 1 mm continuum emission contours from panel (a). The color scale unit is Jy beam−1 km s−1. -- astro-ph.GA

Astrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report

First Detection of the Glycine Isomer Glycolamide in Hot Molecular Core

by Keith CowingMarch 25, 2026March 25, 2026

Understanding whether prebiotic molecules can endure and reform through the energetic stages of star formation is essential for tracing the continuity of interstellar chemistry toward life. Glycolamide, an isomer of […]

This image, taken on Oct. 5, 2025 by the MAVEN spacecraft, shows the coma of gas and dust surrounding comet 3I/ATLAS. Combining data from NASA’s MAVEN, James Webb Space Telescope, and SPHEREx missions helped reveal the comet’s production rates of volatile molecules including water. NASA/Goddard/LASP/CU Boulder

AI - Data - Apps - Cybernetics, Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Citizen Science / Open Science, Comets and Asteroids, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Press Release

How Open NASA Data on Comet 3I/ATLAS Will Power Tomorrow’s Discoveries

by Keith CowingMarch 25, 2026March 25, 2026

The interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS will soon leave our solar system, never to return, but the observations of the comet will live on in NASA’s public data archives. More than a […]

astrochemistry

Did Impacts From Meteors Help Start Life On Earth?

From Space Dust To Protocells: Micrometeorites In Early Cellular Evolution

A Post-perihelion Constraint On The CO2/H2O Ratio Of Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS From [O I] Forbidden Lines

Spectral Map Making With SPHEREx

Coma Physics Of An Interstellar Object: JWST Spatial-Spectral Mapping Of 3I/ATLAS

Interstellar Stereoisomerism

Benchmarking Astrochemistry Paradigms: Relative Absence of C6H5CN+ in the Diffuse ISM

The SPHEREx Ices Investigation: An Overview

First Detection of the Glycine Isomer Glycolamide in Hot Molecular Core

How Open NASA Data on Comet 3I/ATLAS Will Power Tomorrow’s Discoveries

Astrobiologist Dale Andersen’s Antarctic Field Report: 9 November 2026: Lake Untersee Basecamp Update

Astrochemistry: Hubble and JWST Observe Star Formation in The Carina Nebula

Mapping the Historical Roots of Astrobiology: A Reference Publication Year Spectroscopy (RPYS) Analysis

The Agentic Observer Hackathon: Autonomous Decision-making in Simulated Astronomical Surveys

Tracking The Evolution of sub-Neptunes. I. Gyrochronology of Planet Hosting Stars