Formation of organic aerosols driven by photochemical reactions has been observed and suggested in CH4-containing atmospheres, including Titan and early Earth. However the detailed production and growth mechanisms of organic […]
Earth
Posted inHabitable Zones, Press Release
The Origin Of Earth's Water
A New Physical Model Explains The Origin Of Earth’s Water. Equipped with Newton’s law of universal gravitation (published in Principia 330 years ago) and powerful computational resources (used to apply […]
Posted inBiosignatures & Paleobiology, Habitable Zones, Press Release
Variability of Earth's Reflectance Over The Last 16 Years
The Earth’s albedo, or reflectance, is a fundamental atmospheric parameter having deep implications for temperature and climate change. For that reason, experiments have been performed to monitor it over the […]
Posted inBiosignatures & Paleobiology, Press Release
Could Earth's Light Blue Color Be a Signature of Life?
In 1990, Voyager 1 captured the most distant portrait of our planet ever taken, revealing that from beyond Pluto’s orbit, Earth appears as nothing more than a “pale blue dot.” […]
Posted inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Moon, Press Release
Phase of the Moon affects Amount of Rainfall
When the moon is high in the sky, it creates bulges in the planet’s atmosphere that creates imperceptible changes in the amount of rain that falls below.
Posted inHabitable Zones, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
New Insights on the Origins of Earth's Water
Water covers more than two-thirds of Earth’s surface, but its exact origins are still something of a mystery. Scientists have long been uncertain whether water was present at the formation […]
Posted inAstrogeology, Press Release
Terrestrial Planet Formation Constrained by Mars and the Structure of the Asteroid Belt
Reproducing the large Earth/Mars mass ratio requires a strong mass depletion in solids within the protoplanetary disk between 1 and 3 AU. The Grand Tack model invokes a specific migration […]
Posted inAstrogeology, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Habitable Zones, Press Release
Planetary Sweet Spot: Plate Tectonics Depend on Elemental Abundances
Planet Earth is situated in what astronomers call the Goldilocks Zone — a sweet spot in a solar system where a planet’s surface temperature is neither too hot nor too […]
Posted inHabitable Zones, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
New Evidence for Oceans of Water Deep in the Earth
Researchers from the University of New Mexico and Northwestern University report evidence for potentially oceans worth of water deep beneath the United States. Though not in the familiar liquid form […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Habitable Zones
Origins and Concentrations of Water, Carbon, Nitrogen and Noble Gases on Earth
The isotopic compositions of terrestrial hydrogen and nitrogen are clearly different from those of the nebular gas from which the solar system formed, and also differ from most of cometary […]