habitability Archives

Spatial localization of the example superflare. (A) Kepler image of the same flare on KIC 8183083 as in Fig. 1 during the maximum flare light. (B) The same flare 30 min later. Greyscale (see color bar) indicates the flux in each pixel during the flare. The blue outlines indicate the four pixels used to extract the light curve (Fig. 1) and the cyan star is the catalog position of the star (25). The orange ellipses indicate the 68%, 95%, and 99.9% confidence levels obtained by fitting a model of a point source to those images. The star is located within the 99.9% confidence contour in both images, so we attribute the flare in the light curve to this target. -- astro-ph.SR

Astronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release, Radiation, Space Weather & Heliophysics, Stellar Cartography

Sun-like Stars Produce Superflares Roughly Once Per Century

by Keith CowingDecember 22, 2024December 22, 2024

Stellar superflares are energetic outbursts of electromagnetic radiation, similar to solar flares but releasing more energy, up to 1036 erg on main sequence stars.

Astronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Conferences and Meetings, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Towards the Habitable Worlds Observatory: Visionary Science and Transformational Technology

by Keith CowingDecember 20, 2024

We are pleased to announce the inaugural open community conference for NASA’s Habitable Worlds Observatory, to be held at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg Center in Washington, DC, from July 28‐31, […]

Transmission spectra for the biotic scenarios. We show the JWST/NIRSpec range between 3 – 5 micron with a continuous grey cloud deck at the p = 0.01 bar (solid lines) and the dry biotic scenarios 1 & 2 with a lower cloud deck at the p = 0.1 bar (dashed line). The inlay for the 3.2 – 3.35 micron range highlights the O3 (grey box) and CH4 feature (magenta box). We further simulated JWST observations with PANDEXO for the dry biotic scenarios 1 & 2 with the lower cloud deck, simulating 100 transit observations of TRAPPIST-1e (black error bars). We chose the G395M grism setting and combined 10 pixels in one bin. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report

The Effect of a Biosphere on the Habitable Timespan of Stagnant-lid Planets and Implications for the Atmospheric Spectrum

by Keith CowingDecember 18, 2024December 19, 2024

Temperature-dependent biological productivity controls silicate weathering and thereby extends the potential habitable timespan of Earth.

Phase folded JWST/MIRI observations of TRAPPIST-1 b. a. Phase-folded light curve of the secondary eclipse of TRAPPIST-1 b at 12.8 µm, derived from the observations of 5 eclipses as part of GTO 1279 observations. b. Phase-folded light curve of the secondary eclipse of TRAPPIST-1 b at 15 µm, derived from re-analyses of the observations of 5 eclipses as part of GTO 1177. These figures are derived from the “fiducial analysis” described in the Methods. Blue dots corresponds the corrected flux at the original time sampling, black dots shows the 10min binned corrected flux with an error equal to the standard deviation of the points within the bin, and the red curve show the eclipse model. -- astro-ph.EP

Astronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report, TRAPPIST-1

Combined Analysis of the 12.8 and 15 μm JWST/MIRI Eclipse Observations of TRAPPIST-1 b

by Keith CowingDecember 18, 2024December 18, 2024

The first JWST/MIRI photometric observations of TRAPPIST-1 b allowed for the detection of the thermal emission of the planet at 15 μm, suggesting that the planet could be a bare […]

A parameter space plot showing ocean survival plotted by planet final semi-major axis and the time since white dwarf formation at which the scattering event occurred. This plot was constructed for an Earth-like planet with an initial semi-major axis of 5 AU, varying initial eccentricity, and an initial ocean mass of 1 TO. The location of the habitable zone, defined by where water could be liquid on the surface of an Earth-like planet, is overlaid. -- astro-ph.EP

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

The Fate of Oceans on First-Generation Planets Orbiting White Dwarfs

by Keith CowingDecember 18, 2024December 19, 2024

Several groups have recently suggested that small planets orbiting very closely around white dwarf stars could be promising locations for life to arise, even after stellar death. There are still […]

Three-dimensional renderings of snapshots of four selected simulations. For each simulation, the inner sphere shows the temperature at 𝑟 = 𝑟𝑖 + 0.02 atop the inner thermal boundary layer, while the outer surface corresponds to the melting radius 𝑟M. Equatorial and meridional slices show the temperature in the liquid and solid phase with two different separated colormaps. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Rotating Convection With A Melting Boundary: An Application To The Icy Moons

by Keith CowingDecember 17, 2024December 17, 2024

A better understanding of the ice-ocean couplings is required to better characterise the hydrosphere of the icy moons. Using global numerical simulations in spherical geometry, we have investigated here the […]

This schematic depicts the set-up of the volatile exchange during initialization (t=0) and run time. For initialization, a surface temperature of 4000 K and a completely molten magma ocean is assumed, where the dissolved volatiles are in balance with the outgassed volatile content, set by the volatile melt fraction Fi . As the magma ocean solidifies, part of the volatile budget is deposited in the solid mantle. Further, atmospheric escape can remove H2O. These two sink terms thus reduce the amount of a volatile available in the fully coupled magma ocean-atmosphere system Mimoa . The full overview of all included processes, including radiogenic heating, is shown in Barth et al. (2021, Fig. 1) -- astro-ph.EP

Astrogeology, Astronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Lava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds, Status Report

How Mixed Outgassing Changes The Volatile Distribution In Magma Oceans Around M Dwarf Stars

by Keith CowingDecember 17, 2024December 17, 2024

We investigate the impact of CO2 on TRAPPIST-1 e, f and g during the magma ocean stage. These potentially habitable rocky planets are currently the most accessible for astronomical observations.

Artist's impression of a Sun-like star exhibiting a superflare as seen in visible light Credit MPS/Alexey Chizhik

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biophysics, Habitable Zones, Press Release, Radiation, Space Weather & Heliophysics, Stellar Cartography

Sun-like Stars Produce Superflares Roughly One Per Century

by Keith CowingDecember 16, 2024December 16, 2024

There is no question that the Sun is a temperamental star, as alone this year’s unusually strong solar storms prove. Some of them led to remarkable auroras even at low […]

Sarah Peacock is a research scientist with the Exoplanets and Stellar Astrophysics Laboratory at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. Courtesy of Sarah Peacock

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, People Of Astrobiology, Press Release, Radiation, Space Weather & Heliophysics

Sarah Peacock Surveys Stellar Radiation to Hunt for Habitable Worlds

by Keith CowingDecember 11, 2024December 11, 2024

Knowing whether or not a planet elsewhere in the galaxy could potentially be habitable requires knowing a lot about that planet’s sun. Sarah Peacock relies on computer models to assess […]

Comparison of (telluric) molecular oxygen spectrum observed using low-medium resolution spectrograph and interferometer-based instruments. The top panel shows the observed telluric spectrum from archival X-Shooter spectra with spectral resolution ranging from R=1500 to R=18000 in different colors. The lower panel shows the spectrum from FTS126 (red) with R=700,000 and FIOS-demo133 (purple) with R=250,000 overlaid with a fitted model. Note that the two observations were taken at different altitudes, which explains the differences in the line depths of the features. -- Science Reports via PubMed

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Astronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Instrumentation Prospects For Rocky Exoplanet Atmospheres Studies With High Resolution Spectroscopy

by Keith CowingDecember 8, 2024December 8, 2024

Studying the atmospheres of exoplanets is one of the most promising ways to learn about distant worlds beyond our solar system. The composition of an exoplanet’s atmosphere can provide critical […]

habitability

Sun-like Stars Produce Superflares Roughly Once Per Century

Towards the Habitable Worlds Observatory: Visionary Science and Transformational Technology

The Effect of a Biosphere on the Habitable Timespan of Stagnant-lid Planets and Implications for the Atmospheric Spectrum

Combined Analysis of the 12.8 and 15 μm JWST/MIRI Eclipse Observations of TRAPPIST-1 b

The Fate of Oceans on First-Generation Planets Orbiting White Dwarfs

Rotating Convection With A Melting Boundary: An Application To The Icy Moons

How Mixed Outgassing Changes The Volatile Distribution In Magma Oceans Around M Dwarf Stars

Sun-like Stars Produce Superflares Roughly One Per Century

Sarah Peacock Surveys Stellar Radiation to Hunt for Habitable Worlds

Instrumentation Prospects For Rocky Exoplanet Atmospheres Studies With High Resolution Spectroscopy

The First Selection Of Optimal Targets For The Lazuli ExtraSolar Coronagraph’s Reflected Starlight Exoplanet Campaign

Paleo-heat Flux Estimates Across Enceladus Derived From Flexural Response Of The Ice Shell

Astrobiologist Dale Andersen’s Antarctic Field Report: 26 October 2026: Flying South

Complex Organic Molecules in Protostars with ALMA Spectral Surveys (COMPASS): I. Overview of the ALMA Large Program

A Technical Reanalysis Of The Viking Carbon Assimilation-Pyrolytic Release Experiment