habitablility Archives - Astrobiology

Model prediction for the water budget of the 4 terrestrial planets

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Habitable Zones, Mars, Mercury, Status Report, Venus

Astrochemical Inheritance of Terrestrial Planets Water from Local Wet Silicates

by Keith CowingMay 1, 2026May 5, 2026

The delivery of water to the inner Solar System rocky planets, including Earth, remains debated, as standard models assume that they formed from dry grains, inside the snowline of the […]

LILBID cationic mass spectrum of l-norleucine simulating an impact velocity of 5–7 km/s. The protonated molecular peak of l-norleucine is labeled “M+H+.” Fragment ions are identified in the mass spectrum and represented in the molecular structure as well. Ions from the matrix (pure water clusters and sodium and potassium water clusters) are labeled with blue triangles and yellow and green squares. -- Astrobiology via x-mol.net

Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Enceladus, Europa, Exploration Gear & Tech, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report, Tricorders & Sensors

Identifying Amino Acid Isomers With Mass Spectrometry On Icy Ocean

by Keith CowingApril 27, 2026April 27, 2026

Enceladus and Europa are compelling targets for astrobiology investigations due to their potentially habitable subsurface oceans connected to the icy surface by geological processes.

Tidally Heated H2-Dominated Exomoon - Grok via Astrobiology.com

Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Habitability Of Tidally Heated H2-Dominated Exomoons Around Free-Floating Planets

by Keith CowingFebruary 6, 2026February 6, 2026

Exomoons around free-floating planets (FFPs) can survive their host planet’s ejection. Such ejections can increase their orbital eccentricity, providing significant tidal heating in the absence of any stellar energy source.

The Kepler exoplanet candidate population around FGK stars used in the analysis of S. Bryson et al. (2021), shown in period and radius, both colored and sized by catalog reliability with exoplanet radius error bars. The background color map and contours indicate detection completeness. The rectangles show example η⊕ definitions from different authors. Adapted from S. Bryson et al. (2020a). -- astro-ph.EP

Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Status Report, Stellar Cartography, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Why Estimating η⊕ Is Difficult: A Kepler-Centric Perspective

by Keith CowingDecember 29, 2025December 29, 2025

η⊕, the occurrence rate of rocky habitable zone exoplanets orbiting Sun-like stars, is of great interest to both the astronomical community and the general public. The Kepler space telescope has […]

True colour image of a cloud-free Ocean planet at α = 90◦with different surface wind speed maps. In the first row, we use a constant wind speed and notice the impact on the brightness and size of the ocean glint. In the second row, we use realistic wind speed maps from ERA5, and we notice the inhomogenous shape of the ocean glint. We report the average wind speed from the various ERA5 fields in the sub-figures. -- astro-ph.EP

Astronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Planet Earth In Reflected And Polarized Light I. 3D Radiative Transfer Simulations Of Realistic Surface-atmosphere Systems

by Keith CowingMay 25, 2025May 24, 2025

Future telescopes will characterize rocky exoplanets in reflected light, revealing their albedo, which depends on surface, cloud, and atmospheric properties.

Schematic diagram of steps in the theoretical model. Further description of key parameters, sampled ranges, and calculation procedures is found in Methods. -- astro-ph.EP)

Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Status Report, TRAPPIST-1

Statistical Geochemical Constraints On present-day Water Outgassing As A Source Of Secondary Atmospheres On The TRAPPIST-1 Exoplanets

by Keith CowingMay 8, 2025September 18, 2025

The TRAPPIST-1 planetary system is observationally favorable for studying if planets orbiting M stars can retain atmospheres and host habitable conditions. Recent JWST secondary eclipse observations of TRAPPIST-1 c rule […]