The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is expected to revolutionize our understanding of Jovian worlds over the coming decade. However, as we push towards characterizing cooler, smaller, “terrestrial-like” planets, dedicated […]
biosignature
Posted inAnalog Studies, Arctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Away Teams & Field Reports, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Desert Worlds, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Habitable Zones, Microbiology & Virology, Press Release
Atacama Desert Microbes May Hold Clues To Life On Mars
Microbial life on Mars may potentially be transported across the planet on dust particles carried by wind, according to a study conducted in the Atacama Desert in North Chile, a […]
Posted inBiosignatures & Paleobiology, Press Release
Fluorescent Glow May Reveal Hidden Life In The Cosmos
Astronomers have uncovered a new way of searching for life in the cosmos. Harsh ultraviolet radiation flares from red suns, once thought to destroy surface life on planets, might help […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release
Shining (Star)light on the Search for Life
In the hunt for life on other worlds, astronomers scour over planets that are light-years away. They need ways to identify life from afar — but what counts as good […]
Posted inBiosignatures & Paleobiology
NIST Infrared Frequency Comb Measures Biological Signatures
Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and collaborators have demonstrated a compact frequency-comb apparatus that rapidly measures the entire infrared band of light to detect biological, […]
Posted inBiosignatures & Paleobiology, Press Release
Detecting Earth-like Biosignatures On Rocky Exoplanets Around Nearby Stars With Ground-based Extremely Large Telescopes
As we begin to discover rocky planets in the habitable zone of nearby stars with missions like TESS and CHEOPS, we will need quick advancements on instrumentation and observational techniques […]
Posted inBiosignatures & Paleobiology, Press Release
Biosignature Anisotropy Modeled on Temperate Tidally Locked M-dwarf Planets
A planet’s atmospheric constituents (e.g., O2, O3, H2O, CO2, CH4, N2O) can provide clues to its surface habitability, and may offer biosignature targets for remote life detection efforts. The plethora […]
Posted inBiosignatures & Paleobiology, Press Release
Atmospheric Seasonality as an Exoplanet Biosignature
Current investigations of exoplanet biosignatures have focused on static evidence of life, such as the presence of biogenic gases like O2 or CH4. However, the expected diversity of terrestrial planet […]
Posted inBiosignatures & Paleobiology, Press Release
A Procedure For Observing Rocky Exoplanets to Maximize the Likelihood That Atmospheric Oxygen Will Be A Biosignature
Here we advocate an observational strategy to help prioritize exoplanet observations. It starts with more easily obtained observational data, and ranks exoplanets for more difficult follow-up observations based on the […]
Posted inBiosignatures & Paleobiology
Biomarkers Helped Solving The Mystery of 500-million-year-old Macroorganisms
A postgraduate student of the Faculty of Geology of MSU, working with an international scientific group, participated in chemical analysis of biomarkers — compounds that remained after the decomposition of […]