The ongoing discovery of exoplanets has sparked significant interest in finding suitable worlds that could potentially support life. Stellar ultraviolet (UV; 100-3000 Å) radiation may play a crucial role in […]
habitability
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report, Stellar Cartography
High Precision Astrometry Science In The Context of Space Mission Prospectives
Astrometry is one of the oldest branches of astronomy which measures the position, the proper motion and parallax of celestial objects.
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report, Stellar Cartography, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
The 10 pc Neighborhood of Habitable Zone Exoplanetary Systems: Threat Assessment from Stellar Encounters & Supernovae
The habitability of a planet is influenced by both its parent star and the properties of its local stellar neighborhood. Potential threats to habitability from the local stellar environment mainly […]
Posted inAstrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Away Teams & Field Reports, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Extinction events, Fossils & Paleontology, Habitable Zones, Impact events, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Meteorites & Asteroids, Status Report
Effect Of A Giant Meteorite Impact On Paleoarchean Surface Environments And Life
Large meteorite impacts must have strongly affected the habitability of the early Earth. Rocks of the Archean Eon record at least 16 major impact events, involving bolides larger than 10 […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report
POSEIDON: A Multidimensional Atmospheric Retrieval Code for Exoplanet Spectra
Spectroscopic observations of exoplanet atmospheres can reveal the chemical composition, temperature, cloud properties, and (potentially) the habitability of these distant worlds. The inference of such properties is generally enabled by […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report
Self-Shielding Enhanced Organics Synthesis in an Early Reduced Earth’s Atmosphere
Earth is expected to have acquired a reduced proto-atmosphere enriched in H2 and CH4 through the accretion of building blocks that contain metallic Fe and/or the gravitational trapping of surrounding […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Lava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds, Press Release, TRAPPIST-1, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Rocky Planets Orbiting Small Stars Could Have Stable Atmospheres Needed To Support Life
Since its launch in late 2021, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has raised the possibility that we could detect signs of life on exoplanets, or planets outside our solar system.
Posted inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Status Report
Thermal Tides On Rocky Planets Through A Novel Fully Analytical Solution
Thermal tides are atmospheric tides caused by variations in day-night insolation, similar to gravitational tides but with key differences.
Posted inCallisto, Europa, Ganymede, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Jupiter, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Astrobiology.com on Deutsche Welle: Europa Clipper and ESA Juice
Editor’s note: I was just on Deutsche Welle talking about the Europa Clipper mission – as well as ESA’s Juice mission – and how they will work in tandem exploring […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Habitable Zones, Impact events, Meteorites & Asteroids, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release
How Did The Building Blocks Of Life Arrive On Earth?
Researchers have used the chemical fingerprints of zinc contained in meteorites to determine the origin of volatile elements on Earth. The results suggest that without ‘unmelted’ asteroids, there may not […]