NASA-supported researchers have assessed the capabilities of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to search for gases in planetary atmospheres that could be signs of life.
biosignature
Posted inHabitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Origin & Evolution of Life, Plant Biology, Press Release, Proxima Centauri, Space Agriculture, TRAPPIST-1
A Spectrum Of Possibilities: Insights Into The Evolution Of Far-red Light Photosynthesis
A collaborative study led by Dr. Christopher Gisriel at Yale University and Dr. Tanai Cardona at Queen Mary University of London, published in Frontiers in Plant Science, offers new insight […]
Posted inBiochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report
Searching For Life In Hot Spring Carbonate Systems: Investigating Raman Spectra Of Carotenoid-Bearing Organic Carbonaceous Inclusions From Travertines Of Italy
Carotenoid pigments provide some of the most common exclusively biogenic markers on Earth, and these organic pigments may be present in extraterrestrial life. Raman spectroscopy can be used to identify […]
Posted inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Status Report
Controls of Atmospheric Methane on Early Earth and Inhabited Earth-like Terrestrial Exoplanets
Methane (CH4) is a primarily biogenic greenhouse gas. As such, it represents an essential biosignature to search for life on exoplanets.
Posted inAnalog Studies, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report
Retrievals Applied To A Decision Tree Framework Can Characterize Earth-like Exoplanet Analogs
Exoplanet characterization missions planned for the future will soon enable searches for life beyond our solar system. Critical to the search will be the development of life detection strategies that […]
Posted inAstrogeology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Mars, Missions & Hardware, Status Report
Mars Rock Samples: The Stories They Could Tell
What secrets could we unravel by studying Mars samples in state-of-the-art labs on Earth? Scientists around the globe are eager to find out.
Posted inBiophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Microbiology & Virology, Plant Biology, Press Release
On The Importance And Challenges Of Modelling Extraterrestrial Photopigments Via Density-functional Theory
The emergence of oxygenic photosynthesis was a major event in Earth’s evolutionary history and was facilitated by chlorophylls (a major category of photopigments).
Posted inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Status Report
An Extensively Validated C/H/O/N Chemical Network For Hot Exoplanet Disequilibrium Chemistry
We aimed to build a new and updated C0-C2 chemical network to study the CHON disequilibrium chemistry of warm and hot exoplanet atmospheres that relies on extensively validated and recent […]
Posted inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, SETI & Technosignatures, Status Report
A Complex Systems Approach to Exoplanet Atmospheric Chemistry: New Prospects for Ruling Out the Possibility of Alien Life-As-We-Know-It
The near-term capability to characterize terrestrial exoplanet atmospheres may bring us closer to discovering alien life through atmospheric data.
Posted inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Water Absorption In The Transmission Spectrum Of The Water-world Candidate GJ9827d
Recent work on the characterization of small exoplanets has allowed us to accumulate growing evidence that the sub-Neptunes with radii greater than ∼2.5R⊕ often host H2/He-dominated atmospheres both from measurements […]