ice Archives

Enceladus orbiting within Saturn's E ring Credits: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute larger image

Astrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Enceladus, Icy Worlds, Saturn, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Icy Ocean World Enceladus Orbits In The Ring It Makes Around Saturn

by Keith CowingOctober 6, 2025

Saturn’s E ring is a huge, fuzzy, donut-shaped circle of particles around Saturn, that puzzled scientists for a long time.

Block diagram of the CRONOS laboratory setup; dimensions are not necessarily to scale. All materials and equipment were given at least 30 minutes in the antechamber before moving into the main chamber, to ensure no atmosphere was exchanged between the two areas. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Europa, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report

The Near-Infrared Spectral Characteristics of Water Ice, Epsomite, and Halite Mixtures Relevant to Europa

by Keith CowingOctober 6, 2025October 6, 2025

We publish the first NIR spectra of grain particulate mixtures of water ice, epsomite, and halite at cryogenic temperatures.

An average of the continuum-removed spectra of the leading and trailing hemispheres of Mimas and Tethys and the leading hemispheres of Dione and Rhea, in black, and of the trailing hemispheres of Dione and Rhea, in red. The lines at the bottom show measured wavelengths of CO2 in different states, including in pure crystalline form and trapped as clathrate in crystalline water ice (Oancea et al. 2012), trapped in amorphous ice (Sandford & Allamandola 1990; G´alvez et al. 2008) and physisorbed onto minerals (Hibbitts & Szanyi 2007), which can lead to a wide range of wavelengths. The shorter wavelength 4.2487 µm line associated with the darker hemispheres of Dione and Rhea appears to have no corresponding absorption in the 2.7 µm region. -- astro-ph.EP

Dione, Enceladus, Hyperion, Iapetus, Icy Worlds, Mimas, Phoebe, Rhea, Saturn, Status Report, Tethys

A JWST Study Of CO2 On The Satellites Of Saturn

by Keith CowingOctober 6, 2025October 6, 2025

Solid state CO2 has been detected throughout the outer solar system, even at temperatures where crystalline CO2 is unstable, requiring that the CO2 be trapped in a separate host material.

Professor Praveen Linga and his research team, Yunhan Ma (left) and Dr Ye Zhang (middle), at their lab, where the amino-acid-modified ice technology was developed. Credit College of Design and Engineering at NUS.

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Commercial & Private Sector, Cryobiology, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release

Ice Mixed With Amino Acids Stores Methane In Minutes

by Keith CowingOctober 3, 2025October 3, 2025

If you have ever cooked on a gas stove or seen a flame flicker to life with the turn of a knob, you have seen natural gas in action. Supplying […]

Optical depth spectra of the YSOs in our sample, shifted vertically for clarity. For illustration purposes, the red lines correspond to a linear combination of four ice mixtures selected from LIDA (3000 monolayers of pure H2O at a temperature of 15 K, H2O:CO2 in the ratio 10:1 at 10 K, CO:CO2 in the ratio 2:1 at 15 K, and pure OCS at 17 K) and provide a reasonable fit to the observations. The corresponding column densities are listed in Table 4. The legend at the top of each panel indicates the ice features discussed in the text and the corresponding wavelengths, to guide the eye. -- astro-ph.GA

Astrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Status Report

First Detection Of Ices In Intermediate-mass Young Stellar Objects Beyond The Milky Way

by Keith CowingSeptember 27, 2025September 27, 2025

Using NIRSpec on JWST, we studied a sample of 15 intermediate-mass (1.8-4.1 Msun) young stellar objects (YSOs) previously identified with MIRI photometry in the low-metallicity NGC 346 star-forming cluster in […]

This study investigates the formation of carbon dioxide clathrate hydrates under conditions simulating interstellar environments, a process of significant astrophysical and industrial relevance. -- ACS Omega via PubMed

Astrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Status Report

Laboratory Studies Of The Clathrate Hydrate Formation In The Carbon Dioxide-Water Mixtures At Interstellar Conditions

by Keith CowingSeptember 25, 2025September 25, 2025

This study investigates the formation of carbon dioxide clathrate hydrates under conditions simulating interstellar environments, a process of significant astrophysical and industrial relevance.

Astrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Status Report

Formation Of Thiocarbonic acid (H2CS3) – The Sulfur Counterpart Of Carbonic Acid (H2CO3) – In Interstellar Analog Ices

by Keith CowingSeptember 24, 2025September 26, 2025

The first experimental formation of thiocarbonic acid (H2CS3) is presented in this work from low-temperature interstellar ice analogs composed of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and carbon disulfide (CS2) exposed to electron […]

Habitable snow area changes across the Antarctic Peninsula. 50 km hexagonal grids showing the sum of area of habitable snow for green snow algae (GSA – (B, C)) and red snow algae (RSA – (F, G)) under 2021 (B, F) and predicted 2100 (C, G) climate conditions. Habitable area is cumulative from 1st November to 21st January (2021 or 2100). Maps (A) and (E) show the length of the 95% credible interval for areas that meet the models’ threshold criteria. Maps (D) and (H) show whether habitable area increased or decreased between 2021 and 2100 within each 50 km grid cell. The triangle marker line is the boundary of greater melt in 2021 than in 2100, where melt was greater to the east of the line and less to the west. Map insets are of the South Orkney Islands and are a different scale (also depicting a 50 km hexagonal grid). The map overview in h shows the extent of the main map views of the Antarctic Peninsula and of the South Orkney Islands inset in yellow. -- Frontiers

Analog Studies, Arctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Away Teams & Field Reports, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Cryobiology, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Microbiology & Virology, Status Report

Modelling Snow Algal Habitat Suitability And Ecology Under Extreme Weather Events On The Antarctic Peninsula

by Keith CowingSeptember 23, 2025September 23, 2025

Snow algae form extensive blooms within Antarctica’s coastal snowpacks and are a crucial contributor to its scarce terrestrial ecosystems.

Stationary points of Equation (1) and (2) yielding the most stable cis-MF conformer, computed at MPWB1K-D3(BJ)/6-31G(d, p) theory level, and Equation (3) and (4) yielding the most stable syn, cis-GA conformer, computed at BHLYP-D3(BJ)/6-31G(d, p) level of theory. PRC stands for prereactant complex and TS for transition state. Distances are given in Å. The energetics can be found in Table 1. -- Chempluschem

Astrochemistry, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Status Report

Atomistic Modeling of Methyl Formate and Glycolaldehyde Formation on Interstellar Dirty Ice Mantles via a “Radical + Ice” Mechanism

by Keith CowingSeptember 22, 2025September 22, 2025

Methylformate (MF) and glycolaldehyde (GA) are two primogenital organic molecules detected in both cold and warm regions of the interstellar medium (ISM).

Various examples of surface diffusion and related processes taking place in condensed phases in space. Each panel illustrates a distinct diffusion mechanism: Langmuir–Hinshelwood (top left) shows reactants diffusing before meeting; hot atom diffusion (top right) depicts energetic species moving rapidly across surfaces; non-diffusive reactions (bottom left) occur only requiring serendipitous proximity; and segregation (bottom right) shows separation of different molecular species in mixed ices. Image adapted from Cuppen et al.-- Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics

Astrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Status Report

Molecular Mobility Of Exraterrestrial Ices: Surface Diffusion In Astrochemistry And Planetary Science

by Keith CowingSeptember 22, 2025September 22, 2025

Molecules are ubiquitous in space. They are necessary components in the creation of habitable planetary systems and can provide the basic building blocks of life.

ice

Icy Ocean World Enceladus Orbits In The Ring It Makes Around Saturn

The Near-Infrared Spectral Characteristics of Water Ice, Epsomite, and Halite Mixtures Relevant to Europa

A JWST Study Of CO2 On The Satellites Of Saturn

Ice Mixed With Amino Acids Stores Methane In Minutes

First Detection Of Ices In Intermediate-mass Young Stellar Objects Beyond The Milky Way

Laboratory Studies Of The Clathrate Hydrate Formation In The Carbon Dioxide-Water Mixtures At Interstellar Conditions

Formation Of Thiocarbonic acid (H2CS3) – The Sulfur Counterpart Of Carbonic Acid (H2CO3) – In Interstellar Analog Ices

Modelling Snow Algal Habitat Suitability And Ecology Under Extreme Weather Events On The Antarctic Peninsula

Atomistic Modeling of Methyl Formate and Glycolaldehyde Formation on Interstellar Dirty Ice Mantles via a “Radical + Ice” Mechanism

Molecular Mobility Of Exraterrestrial Ices: Surface Diffusion In Astrochemistry And Planetary Science

On The Foundations Of Anthropic Reasoning: Implications For Life Across The Universe

NASA Curation Community Conversation Webinar

The Atmospheric Chemistry and Surface Interactions on Mars (ACSIOM) Workshop 2025

An ALMA View On Molecular Complexity: Water, Methanol, And Methyl Formate In The HD 100546 And IRS 48 Disks

The Occurrence of Circumbinary Planets Around TESS M-dwarf Eclipsing Binaries