[PNAS] Biosignature detection remains a key challenge in astrobiology, yet robust mineral biosignatures remain limited. Raman spectroscopy is increasingly applied in planetary exploration, but its high-dimensional spectral information has not […]
astrogeology
Posted inMeteorites & Asteroids
Pristine Meteorite Examination Adds To Our Knowledge Of Ancient Asteroids
[NASA] A meteorite recovered immediately upon its fall to Earth on July 16, 2024, is helping NASA scientists uncover new clues about ancient water, the chemical evolution of primitive asteroids, […]
Posted inComets and Asteroids
NASA Study Finds Near-Earth Asteroid Is Actually Comet
[NASA] The object looks like an asteroid but moves like a comet, so astronomers used some of the most powerful observatories on the planet to confirm its identity.
![Schematic of the coupled interior-atmosphere evolutionary framework PROTEUS, showing the links between interior, surface, atmosphere, and stellar modules. Core components include SPIDER (mantle dynamics), CALLIOPE (surface in-/outgassing), AGNI/JANUS (radiativeand prescribed-convective atmospheres), ZEPHYRUS (atmospheric escape), and MORS (XUV stellar evolution). Modules exchange energy fluxes at each planetary interfaces—including core cooling, volatile outgassing, heat transport, heat loss to space, escape and stellar irradiation—while C–H–O–N–S volatiles are tracked throughout the mantle and atmosphere. -- [astro-ph.EP]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Atmospheric-evolution.png?resize=1200%2C718&ssl=1)
Posted inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather
Atmospheric Evolution Through Outgassing And Escape On Young Molten Rocky Exoplanets
[astro-ph.EP] The earliest rocky planet atmospheres are shaped by competition between initial volatile inventories and atmospheric escape. On young magma ocean planets, outgassing competes with atmospheric escape, controlling volatile retention […]
![Planet growth and migration tracks for the formation of WASP-19 b starting from different initial orbital locations. Solid parts of the tracks indicate the pebble-accretion phase before the planet reached pebble isolation mass, while dotted parts indicate the subsequent gas-accretion phase. Different symbols indicate different disc viscosities (α = 10−3 , 5 × 10−4 , and 10−4 ). The colour of each track represents the resulting atmospheric C/O ratio of the planet. -- [astro-ph.EP]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/The-majority.png?resize=1200%2C720&ssl=1)
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets
The Majority Of Hot Jupiters Formed Beyond The Water Ice Line
[astro-ph.EP] Atmospheric compositions of giant exoplanets can retain information about their formation environments, as volatile species condense at different temperatures in protoplanetary discs.
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets
Sulfur Photochemistry Observationally Traces Mantle Redox States Of Rocky Planets
[astro-ph.EP] Volatile outgassing from planetary interiors controls the composition of rocky exoplanets’ secondary atmospheres. However, observations indicate that disequilibrium processes, such as photochemistry and vertical transport, can strongly alter the […]
Posted inIcy Worlds
Tracing The Source Of Carbon Oxides On The Large Moons Of Uranus
[astro-ph.EP] The Uranian moons Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, and Oberon are enriched in CO2 mixed with CO, but the origin(s) of these carbon oxides, be they primarily native or radiolytic, remains […]
Posted inMars
MEDaL-1 Mars Lander Science Definition Team
[ESA] Join the Science Definition Team (SDT) to help define the Exploration Science Payload for a proposed future Mars lander: MEDaL-1. Full announcement
![Reflation events (red) occur across a range of ages and with different magnitudes across the evolution of irradiated super-Earths. The plot shows the normalised bulk density evolution of individual simulations, versus the time elapsed since planet formation. The red lines indicate cases where a reflation event occurs, while blue lines indicate those where it does not occur. The evolution tracks that end with a dot indicate the planet has reached an airless state and complete atmospheric erosion by hydrodynamic escape has taken place. The evolution of the two select cases for Figure 1 are highlighted and denoted with a R and D. These cases illustrate in more detail a representative reflation (red) and deflation case (blue). -- [astro-ph.EP]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Reflation.png?resize=1200%2C717&ssl=1)
Posted inAstrogeology
Reflation: Redox-driven Atmospheric Inflation As Tracer Of Super-Earth Geochemistry
[astro-ph.EP] We demonstrate that the redox-sensitivity of mantle outgassing can trigger transient episodes of atmospheric re-inflation in highly irradiated and geochemically-reduced super-Earths, a mechanism we term reflation.
Posted inBarnard's Star
Planets Orbiting Barnard’s Star Seem To Be Small, Strange, And Utterly Uninhabitable
[University of Cambridge] Scientists have painted the most detailed portrait yet of the planetary system orbiting Barnard’s Star – the Sun’s closest neighbour after Alpha Centauri, just under six light-years […]