Interstellar molecular clouds are considered to be the birth sites of planetary systems.
comets
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Comets and Asteroids, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release
NASA Scientists Study Life Origins By Simulating a Cosmic Evolution
Amino acids make up millions of proteins that drive the chemical gears of life, including essential bodily functions in animals.
Posted inAstrochemistry, Comets and Asteroids, Europa, Icy Worlds, Origin & Evolution of Life, Panspermia, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Comet Impacts Could Bring The Ingredients For Life To Europa’s Ocean
Comet strikes on Jupiter’s moon Europa could help transport critical ingredients for life found on the moon’s surface to its hidden ocean of liquid water — even if the impacts […]
Posted inBiochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Comets and Asteroids, Missions & Hardware, Press Release, Sample Return
Cryogenic Cometary Sample Return
Comets likely formed in the outer regions of the protosolar nebula where they incorporated and preserved primitive presolar materials, volatiles resident in the outer disk, and more refractory materials from […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Press Release
The Carbon Monoxide-rich Interstellar Comet 2I/Borisov
Interstellar comets offer direct samples of volatiles from distant protoplanetary disks. 2I/Borisov is the first notably active interstellar comet discovered in our solar system[1]. Comets are condensed samples of the […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Press Release
Multiple Nitrogen Reservoirs In A Protoplanetary Disk At The Epoch Of Comet And Giant Planet Formation
The isotopic ratio of nitrogen measured in primitive Solar System bodies shows a broad range of values, the origin of which remains unknown. One key question is whether these isotopic […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Comets and Asteroids, Press Release
Organics Sniffed Out on 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko
While the Rosetta spacecraft orbits the 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko comet, the Philae lander, deployed from Rosetta on November 2014, has gathered data on the surface of the comet that indicate the potential […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astrogeology, Beta Pictoris, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets
Volatile Planetary Evolution and the Possibility of Life
In another step forward in the search for habitable planets, a team of researchers based out of the US and Chile announced that they have located a large swarm of […]