Carbonaceous chondrites (CCs) are windows into the early Solar system and the histories of their parent bodies. Their infrared spectral signatures are powerful proxies for deciphering their composition and evolution […]
astrogeology
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astrogeology, Comets and Asteroids, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report
Long-term Spectroscopic Monitoring Of Comet 46P/Wirtanen
Jupiter Family Comets (JFCs), having orbital period less than 20 years, provide us with an opportunity to observe their activity and analyse the homogeneity in their coma composition over multiple […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astrogeology, Intelligence & Language, Missions & Hardware, Press Release
Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe Will Capture Interstellar Stardust
Scientists and engineers at the CU Boulder will soon take part in an effort to collect a bit of stardust—the tiny bits of matter that flow through the Milky Way […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astrogeology, Comets and Asteroids, Meteorites & Asteroids, Missions & Hardware, Planetary Protection & Biosafety, Status Report
OSIRIS-REx Team Clears A Hurdle To Access Remaining Sample From Asteroid Bennu
Curation team members at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston have successfully removed the two fasteners from the sampler head that had prevented the remainder of OSIRIS-REx’s asteroid Bennu sample […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Press Release
Meteorite Analysis Shows That Earth’s Building Blocks Contained Water
When our Sun was a young star, 4.56 billion years ago, what is now our solar system was just a disk of rocky dust and gas. Over tens of millions […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astrogeology, Meteorites & Asteroids, Press Release
The Fate of Primary Iron Sulfides in the CM1 Carbonaceous Chondrites: Effects of Advanced Aqueous Alteration on Primary Components
We have carried out a SEM-EPMA-TEM study to determine the textures and compositions of relict primary iron sulfides and their alteration products in a suite of moderately to heavily-altered CM1 […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astrogeology, Astronomy & Telescopes, Interstellar, Status Report
Water Transport Through Mesoporous Amorphous-carbon Dust
The diffusion of water molecules through mesoporous dust of amorphous carbon (a-C) is a key process in the evolution of prestellar, protostellar, and protoplanetary dust, as well as in that […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astrogeology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Status Report
Stability Of Hydrides In Sub-Neptune Exoplanets With Thick Hydrogen-Rich Atmospheres
Many sub-Neptune exoplanets have been believed to be composed of a thick hydrogen-dominated atmosphere and a high-temperature heavier-element-dominant core.
Posted inAstrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Icy Worlds, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Missions & Hardware, Press Release, Saturn, Titan
Titan’s “Magic Islands” Are Likely Honeycombed Hydrocarbon Icebergs
Titan’s “magic islands” are likely floating chunks of porous, frozen organic solids, a new study finds, pivoting from previous work suggesting they were gas bubbles. The study was published in […]
Posted inAstrogeology, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mars, Status Report
Mixtures Of Sulfates In Melas Chasma On Mars
Many locations on Mars have sulfates, which are sedimentary rocks formed in water. Within Valles Marineris, the large canyon system that cuts across the planet, there are big and thick […]