[SwRI] A new Southwest Research Institute-led study proposes a solution to a long-standing puzzle in planetary science — what caused the concentration, assembly and preservation of millimeter-sized, spherical mineral grains […]
chondrite
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Ceres, Comets and Asteroids, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Meteorites & Asteroids, Missions & Hardware, Sample Return, Status Report
Challenges and Opportunities in Using Amino Acids to Decode Carbonaceous Chondrite and Asteroid Parent Body Processes
Carbonaceous chondrite (CC) meteorites are fragments of planetesimals that hold clues about the early solar system’s organic matter. Amino acids are key to life on Earth; thus their study from […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Impact events, Meteorites & Asteroids, Status Report
Spectral Effects of Shock Darkening On Ordinary Chondrite and Howardite, Eucrite, And Diogenite Meteorites
Impacts are the most ubiquitous processes on planetary bodies in our solar system. During these impact events, shock waves can deposit enough energy to produce shock-induced darkening in the target […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Habitable Zones, Impact events, Lava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds, Origin & Evolution of Life, Panspermia, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Deep Mantle-Atmosphere Coupling And Carbonaceous Bombardment: Options For Biomolecule Formation On Aan Oxidized Early Earth
Understanding what environmental conditions prevailed on early Earth during the Hadean eon, and how this set the stage for the origins of life, remains a challenge.
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astrogeology, Comets and Asteroids, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Meteorites & Asteroids, Press Release
Meteorites: A Geologic Map Of The Asteroid Belt
Where do meteorites of different type come from? In a review paper in the journal Meteoritics & Planetary Science, published online this week, astronomers trace the impact orbit of observed […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Meteorites & Asteroids, Status Report
The Rapid Formation of Macromolecules in Irradiated Ice of Protoplanetary Disk Dust Traps
Organic macromolecular matter is the dominant carrier of volatile elements such as carbon, nitrogen, and noble gases in chondrites — the rocky building blocks from which Earth formed. How this […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astrogeology, Comets and Asteroids, Meteorites & Asteroids, Press Release
The Origin Of Most Meteorites Finally Revealed
An international team led by three researchers from the CNRS, the European Southern Observatory (ESO, Europe), and Charles University (Czech Republic) has successfully demonstrated that 70% of all known meteorite […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astrogeology, Comets and Asteroids, Meteorites & Asteroids, Status Report
Is There A Genetic Relationship Between Chondrules And Matrix?
Chondritic components such as chondrules and matrix are the key time capsules that can help us understand the evolution and dynamics of the protoplanetary disk from which the Solar System […]
![Mass - radius relations of puffy Venuses. a: M-R relations compared to observed exoplanets. The grey line is the M-R for terrestrial planets with an Earth-like core mass fraction of 0.325 (Plotnykov & Valencia 2020). Colored solid lines are puffy Venus radii assuming different Teq, with the fiducial, OC-like volatile C and H abundances. The orange dashed line is the M-R for Teq = 2000 K planets with a convective deep atmosphere to the MO surface, instead of a deep radiative zone. The shaded region is the range of M-R space an air-less rocky world can occupy for all possible Fe/Si ∈ [0, 1]. Planets less dense than this region require a volatile component. Measured exoplanet samples are from the NASA Exoplanet Archive (2023), and only contain those with relative errors below 30%. The nine planets highlighted with black circles are our preferred puffy Venus candidates. In rising mass order, they are GJ 1252 b, TOI-500 b, TOI-561 b, Kepler-10 b, Kepler-36 b, HD 219134 b, HD 3167 b, WASP-47 e, and 55 Cnc e. TOI-561 b’s radius is from Patel et al. (2023); its mass is from Brinkman et al. (2023) b: M-R of puffy Venuses with a range of chondritic C abundances, more opaque lines correspond to less C. They are color-coded by temperature - Teq = 1000 K (blue) and 2000 K (orange). The dashed orange line is for wet CI composition, while the solid line with the same color is for dry CI composition. The dotted portion of dry CI, 1000 K line are atmospheres that should experience graphite precipitation; see text. c: M-R of models assuming different chemical scenarios - I (solid), local chemical equilibrium throughout the atmosphere, II (dash-dot), chemical equilibrium at the MO surface, and a CO2 + H2O atmosphere (dotted). Fiducial OC C and H abundances are used. Same color-coding as b. The solid 1000 K and 2000 K lines in a, the 2 OC lines in b, and the 2 Scenario I lines in c are the same. -- astro-ph.EP](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Puffy-Venuses.png?resize=1200%2C717&ssl=1)
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Lava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds, Status Report, Venus
Puffy Venuses: the Mass-Radius Impact of Carbon-Rich Atmospheres on Lava Worlds
The recent advancements in exoplanet observations enable the potential detection of exo-Venuses, rocky planets with carbon-rich atmospheres. How extended these atmospheres can be, given high carbon abundances, has not been […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astrogeology, Beta Pictoris, Meteorites & Asteroids, Press Release
Mid-infrared Spectra Of The Shocked Murchison CM Chondrite: Comparison With Astronomical Observations Of Dust In Debris Disks
We present laboratory mid-infrared transmission/absorption spectra obtained from matrix of the hydrated Murchison CM meteorite experimentally shocked at peak pressures of 10 to 49 GPa, and compare them to astronomical […]