Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research Archives - Astrobiology

The Murchison meteorite fell in Australia in 1969, breaking into numerous fragments. It belongs to the carbonaceous chondrite group of meteorites. These meteorites are considered to be particularly pristine. © MPS / T. Klawunn

Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Fossils & Paleontology, Habitable Zones, Mars, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release, Tricorders & Sensors

Mars Mission: A Stress Test For The Search For Life

by Keith CowingJune 20, 2026June 20, 2026

Billions of years ago, environmental conditions on Mars were significantly more hospitable than they are today. Our neighbouring planet was likely warm, humid, and surrounded by a dense atmosphere.

Spectrally red-sloped sites on Ceres identified by the deep neural network. Steep red-sloped spectra (organic-rich) are shown in/as red boxes. Yellow boxes indicate locations of moderately red-sloped pixels, which except for Vinotonus do not display the ∼3.4 micron organic feature. Occator red-sloped material is not marked because of its different nature (see text). A blue rectangle outlines an area overlapping Urvara and Yalode, where carbonate-rich materials are exposed. The exact locations of the identified reddish material are marked by small light-green boxes. The area bounded within the blue rectangle is referred to as the “Urvara-Yalode” region. See Figure 9 and Figure S9 in Supporting Information S1 for more details on these sites. Background image is the equirectangular global mosaic of Ceres created using ∼130 m/pix High Altitude Mapping Orbit color data (R-965 nm; G-749 nm; B-438 nm). -- AGU Advances

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Ceres, Cryobiology, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Missions & Hardware, Press Release

Dwarf Planet Ceres: Building Blocks Of Life Delivered From Space

by Keith CowingJanuary 28, 2025January 28, 2025

Organic molecules are among the necessary inventory of life-friendly worlds. On Earth, the compounds of carbon, hydrogen and – in smaller quantities – other elements form the basic building blocks […]

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 […]

Stars with low magnetic field strength exhibit a more pronounced limb darkening than those with a strong magnetic field. This affects the shape of the light curve. MPS / hormesdesign.de

Astronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release

Exoplanets True To Size

by Keith CowingApril 12, 2024April 12, 2024

700 light years away from Earth in the constellation Virgo, the planet WASP-39b orbits the star WASP-39.

Exomoon Kepler-1625b I orbiting exoplanet Kepler-1625b (artist concept) -- Wikipedia

Astronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release

Giant Doubts About Giant Exomoons

by Keith CowingFebruary 6, 2024February 6, 2024

Only two of the more than 5300 known exoplanets have so far provided evidence of moons in orbit around them. In observations of the planets Kepler-1625b and Kepler-1708b from the […]

While metal-poor stars emit more UV radiation overall than metal-rich ones, for metal-poor stars the ratio of ozone-generating UV-C radiation to ozone-destroying UV-B radiation allows for the formation of a thicker protective ozone-layer around the orbiting planets. Therefore, the planets belonging to metal-poor stars provide more favourable conditions for the emergence of complex life. CREDIT MPS/hormesdesign.de

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release, Space Weather & Heliophysics

Metal-Poor Stars Are More Life-Friendly

by Keith CowingApril 18, 2023April 18, 2023

Stars that contain comparatively large amounts of heavy elements provide less favourable conditions for the emergence of complex life than metal-poor stars, as scientists from the Max Planck Institutes for […]