carbon Archives

Astrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Mars, Press Release

ExoMars Finds That The Unusual Carbon Balance At Mars Explained By Sunlight

by Keith CowingNovember 3, 2023November 3, 2023

The ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) has revealed how oddly ‘light’ carbon monoxide forms in Mars’ atmosphere. The finding paints a better picture of how carbon-containing matter formed on the […]

Illustration of our strategy to detect habitable exoplanetary environment via CO2 depletion. Each of the planets to the right hand side of the star describes a different scenario discussed in the text (along with illustrative atmospheric concentrations). The panel on the left hand side depicts a simulation of the transmission spectrum of the temperate terrestrial planet TRAPPIST-1 f. We explore the detectability of an atmosphere with ∼ 10 JWST/NIRSpec Prism transit observations, the minimum needed to produce a reliable diagnostic. Note that the deviation from a flat signal (no atmosphere) is primarily supported by the strong absorption features of CO2, notably at 4.3 µm (highlighted). Exo-atmospheric models from 142 were used to make that panel. On the lower right hand side, we illustrate a simplified view of a carbon cycle involving surface liquid water and biology sequestering cycle and producing a depletion in atmospheric carbon. Atmospheric concentrations given near the planets are illustrative. astro-ph.EP

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Status Report, TRAPPIST-1, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Atmospheric Carbon Depletion As A Tracer Of Water Oceans And Biomass On Temperate Terrestrial Exoplanets

by Keith CowingOctober 24, 2023October 24, 2023

The conventional observables to identify a habitable or inhabited environment in exoplanets, such as an ocean glint or abundant atmospheric O2, will be challenging to detect with present or upcoming […]

Webb’s NIRCam (Near Infrared Camera) captured this picture of the surface of Jupiter’s moon Europa. Webb identified carbon dioxide on the icy surface of Europa that likely originated in the moon’s subsurface ocean.

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Europa, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Webb Finds A Carbon Source On The Surface Of Europa

by Keith CowingSeptember 21, 2023September 21, 2023

Jupiter’s moon Europa is one of a handful of worlds in our Solar System that could potentially harbour conditions suitable for life. Previous research has shown that beneath its water-ice […]

Ingleborough - Carbonate sediments form Cliffs at Dover, UK CREDIT Stephen Foley

Astrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Press Release

Deep Cycling Of Carbon And Chlorine Were Likely Flipped In Earth’s Early History

by Keith CowingAugust 12, 2023August 12, 2023

New research led by Macquarie University earth scientist Dr Chunfei Chen sheds new light on geological processes from up to three billion years ago and marks a significant shift in […]

The Caloris basin on Mercury, which is 1525 kilometers in diameter, in an enhanced-color composite image. The interior of Caloris has been flooded by lava, which here appears orange. Post-flooding impact craters have exposed the subsurface, with the largest excavating the low-reflectance material (LRM), which appears dark blue. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington.

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mercury, Status Report

First Observationally-Constrained Estimates Of Carbon In Mercury’s Near Surface

by Keith CowingJune 15, 2023June 15, 2023

A striking feature of the surface of Mercury is the low-reflectance material (LRM), areas exhibiting 20-30% lower average reflectance that are often associated with impact craters, especially the ejecta and […]

CMDs of member RGB stars with −2.5 mag ≤ V −VHB ≤ 3.0 mag in M22. In the top panels, we show differential reddening vectors of individual color indices for ∆E(B−V) = 0.1 mag with red arrows. -- astro-ph.SR

Astrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release

Carbon Abundance Of Globular Cluster M22 (NGC 6656) And The Surface Carbon Depletion Rates Of The Milky Way Globular Clusters

by Keith CowingJune 9, 2023June 9, 2023

It is well known that metal-poor red giant branch (RGB) stars show variations in some elemental abundances, including carbon, due to the internal mixing accompanied by their own in situ […]

The x and y axes are offsets in arcmin from the central map position; the z axis is velocity in km s−1. The emission starts at the 5σ level for both tracers. The bright star-forming cloud DR21 and other dense molecular clouds are embedded in a large-scale cloud structure only visible in [CII] (dark blue). An interactive version of these plots is found at https://astro.uni-koeln.de/stutzki/research/feedback/animations -- Nature Astronomy

Astrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release

SOFIA Helps Complete Picture on Molecular Cloud Formation

by Keith CowingMay 3, 2023May 3, 2023

Molecular clouds — clumps of gas and dust in space, where molecules form — make up the densest regions of the Milky Way, but how they assemble is largely unknown.

All [C I] emission around 4C 41.17. (A) The blue and cyan [C I] contours are the same as Figure 1A; the green (marked as radio galaxy `RG’) and red (marked as South-East `SE’) contours show additional velocity channels. The background image is the same as Fig. S1A. The [C I] emission is integrated across the velocity ranges indicated in the legend. Blue and red contour levels start at 2σ and increase by 1σ, with σ = 0.011 Jy bm-1 × km s-1. The green contours start at 3σ and increase by 1σ, with σ = 0.015 Jy bm-1 × km s-1. No correction for primary beam (PB) response was applied. The gray contours show the Lyα halo (background image in Fig. 1A). Two red galaxies in the HST imaging at the base of the stream are probably dusty star-forming galaxies (DSFGs) (27), marked with arrows. The dotted gray lines indicate two prominent dark lanes (DL) previously identified in the Lyα imaging (17 ,24). Other symbols and labels are the same as Figure 1. (B-H) Spectra of [C I] extracted at the locations of the white crosses in panel A, which capture regions NW1, NW2, NW3, and NW4 of the stream, as well as the radio galaxy (RG), the region West of the radio galaxy that connects to the stream (W), and the region South-East of the radio galaxy (SE). The spectra are Hanning smoothed to a velocity resolution of 29 km s-1 and values have been corrected for the PB response to give flux densities. The colored shaded regions correspond to the velocity ranges in the legend. -- Science

Astrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release

Expansive Intergalactic Stream Of Cold Cosmic Carbon Feeding A Massive Galaxy

by Keith CowingApril 1, 2023April 1, 2023

Radio telescope observations have revealed a cold stream of intergalactic atomic carbon gas feeding star formation in a massive radio galaxy in the young Universe.

Watching Carbon move around our water planet

Astrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biophysics, Press Release

Tracking Carbon On Our Planet From Orbit

by Keith CowingMarch 23, 2023March 23, 2023

Whether in plants or animals, greenhouse gases or smoke, carbon atoms exist in various compounds as they move through a multitude of pathways within Earth’s system.