habitability
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets
Nearby “Super Earth” May Be A Better Candidate For Life Than Previously Thought
[UT Austin] Using the Hobby-Eberly Telescope at McDonald Observatory, astronomers have taken a closer look at a nearby exoplanet and discovered it may be more Earth-like than previously thought. The […]
Posted inMars
Martian Dust Storms May Ggenerate Atmospheric Electrical Conditions That Could Impact Mars Missions
[UAH] A new study by a doctoral researcher at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), a part of The University of Alabama System, suggests global dust storms on Mars […]
Posted inLava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds
Coupled AtmospHere Interior modeL Intercomparison (CHILI). I. Evolutionary Modelling — Primordial Magma Oceans of Earth and Venus
[astro-ph.EP] Earth and Venus represent two evolutionary outcomes arising from initially molten ‘magma ocean’ periods, followed by lifetimes of chemical and geophysical divergence. Their physics is common to all rocky […]
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets
A New Earth-like Exoplanet Discovered
[UC Irvine] A team led by astronomers at the University of California, Irvine reports the discovery of a new Earth-like exoplanet orbiting a star about 25 light-years from our solar […]
Posted inVenus
A Panspermia Origin For Venus Cloud Life
[USRA] Panspermia is the idea that life can originate on one planetary body and then be transferred to other bodies. Impacts are often the suggested method for transfer, as they […]
Posted inHabitable Zones
Nautilus: Fast Time-Resolved Spectroscopy of GKM Stellar Flares and Their Implications for Planetary Habitability
[astro-ph.SR] Low-mass GKM dwarfs are prime targets for finding habitable-zone Earth-sized planets, but their frequent flares, especially on M~dwarfs, can strongly affect planetary atmospheres through enhanced UV/XUV radiation and stellar […]
Posted inMagnetic Fields, Electromagnetism, bioelectricity,
The Strongest Evidence To Date Of A Magnetic Field On An Exoplanet
[IAC] The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) is taking part in an international study, published in the journal “Science”, which provides the first conclusive evidence of a planet’s influence […]
Posted inOrigin & Evolution of Life
The Biological Cosmological Constant ΛB: Exploratory Propensity, Dynamical Habitability And The Geometric Origin Of Life
[BioSystems via PubMed] The emergence of life represents a fundamental geometric phase transition in the state space of complex systems, rather than a mere sequence of chemical syntheses. Building upon […]
Posted inImpact events
Asteroid Assault Made Ancient Earth Too Hot And Chaotic For Continents To Form
[Curtin University] New research led by Curtin University and QUT (Queensland University of Technology) has revealed repeated asteroid impacts may have been the dominant force shaping the early Earth, delivering […]