Methane Archives

Contour plot of temperatures from the atmospheric structure model, using CIRS observations from 2015 and 2017 at pressures higher than 10−6 bar to 3 × 10−4 bar and UVIS observations at pressures lower than 10−6 to 2 × 10−8 bar, where the quoted pressure limits depend on latitude. The temperatures in the coverage gap between the instruments were filled in to match the H2 density vs. radius in the thermosphere. The black diamonds show the location of the CH4 homopause, taken where CH4 volume mixing ratio equals 5 × 10−5 . A cartoon illustrating speculated low-latitude upwelling is depicted with dashed arrows near the high-altitude homopause levels. astro-ph.EP

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Missions & Hardware, Saturn, Status Report

A Pole-to-Pole Map Of Hydrocarbons In Saturn’s Upper Stratosphere And Mesosphere

by Keith CowingMay 6, 2024May 6, 2024

We analyze data from the final two years of the Cassini mission to retrieve the distributions of methane, ethane, acetylene, ethylene, and benzene in Saturn’s upper stratosphere and mesosphere from […]

Filled with briny lakes, the Quisquiro salt flat in South America's Altiplano represents the kind of landscape that scientists think may have existed in Gale Crater, which NASA's Curiosity rover is exploring. This salt flat is located in Chile, though the Altiplano sprawls across countries. Streams and rivers flowing from mountain ranges into this arid, high-altitude plateau lead to closed basins similar to Mars' ancient Gale Crater. Lakes on the Altiplano are heavily influenced by climate in the same way as Gale. -- NASA

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Mars, Missions & Hardware, Press Release, Tricorders & Sensors

Why Is Methane Seeping on Mars? NASA Scientists Have New Ideas

by Keith CowingApril 23, 2024April 23, 2024

A recent paper may help explain why a portable chemistry lab on NASA’s Curiosity rover has continually sniffed out traces of the gas near the surface of Gale Crater.

The contribution functions for W1935 and W2220 maximum likelihood retrieval models. The CH4 emission seen in W1935 originates from pressures shallower than 0.01 bar. -- astro-ph.SR

Astrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Brown Dwarfs, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gas Giants, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report

Methane Emission From a Cool Brown Dwarf

by Keith CowingApril 20, 2024

Beyond our solar system, aurorae have been inferred from radio observations of isolated brown dwarfs (e.g. Hallinan et al. 2006; Kao et al. 2023). Within our solar system, giant planets […]

Astronomers identified icy compounds made of complex organic molecules like alcohol and likely acetic acid, using MIRI, which was managed through launch by JPL.

Astrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release

Webb Space Telescope Finds Ethanol And Other Organic Molecules Surrounding Young Protostars

by Keith CowingMarch 13, 2024March 13, 2024

What do margaritas, vinegar, and ant stings have in common? They contain chemical ingredients that NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has identified surrounding two young protostars known as IRAS 2A […]

A live male specimen of the new species of deep-sea worm, named Pectinereis strickrotti after the lead Alvin pilot, Bruce Strickrott of WHOI who helped discover it. Its feathery appendages are called parapodia and carry the worm’s gills. CREDIT Ekin Tilic

Away Teams & Field Reports, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Exploration Gear & Tech, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Habitable Zones, Press Release, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

New Deep-sea Worm Discovered At Methane Seep Off Of Costa Rica

by Keith CowingMarch 7, 2024March 7, 2024

Greg Rouse, a marine biologist at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and other researchers have discovered a new species of deep-sea worm living near a methane seep some […]

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Mars, Press Release

Atmospheric Pressure Changes Could Be Driving Mars’ Elusive Methane Pulses

by Keith CowingJanuary 25, 2024January 24, 2024

New research shows that atmospheric pressure fluctuations that pull gases up from underground could be responsible for releasing subsurface methane into Mars’ atmosphere; knowing when and where to look for […]

Astrochemistry, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Brown Dwarfs, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release

Presence Of Methane Suggests Brown Dwarf Atmospheric Heating By Auroral Processes

by Keith CowingJanuary 10, 2024January 10, 2024

Astronomers using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have found a brown dwarf (an object more massive than Jupiter but smaller than a star) that may display possible aurorae, like the […]

An artist’s rendering of the warm exoplanet WASP-80 b whose color may appear bluish to human eyes due to the lack of high-altitude clouds and the presence of atmospheric methane identified by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, similar to the planets Uranus and Neptune in our own solar system. Image credit: NASA.

Astrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Press Release

Methane And Water Found In The Atmosphere Of Exoplanet WASP-80 b

by Keith CowingNovember 22, 2023November 22, 2023

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope observed the exoplanet WASP-80 b as it passed in front of and behind its host star, revealing spectra indicative of an atmosphere containing methane gas […]

Methane clathrate (white, ice-like material) under a rock from the seafloor of the northern Gulf of Mexico. Deposits such as these demonstrate that methane and other gases cross the seafloor and enter the ocean. Photo credit: NOAA

Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Press Release, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

From Seafloor To Space: New Bacterial Proteins Shine Light On Climate and Astrobiology

by Keith CowingNovember 17, 2023November 17, 2023

Gigatons of greenhouse gas are trapped under the seafloor, and that’s a good thing. Around the coasts of the continents, where slopes sink down into the sea, tiny cages of […]

Responses of the atmospheric pCH4 to biogenic CH4 flux for the case of F-, G-, and Ktype stars (blue, black, and light blue solid lines with dots) (ExpCH4fluxF2V, ExpCH4fluxG2V, and ExpCH4fluxK2V in Table 3). The dotted lines represent the results of the case of the G-type star with the scaled intensity of the spectra at 200–210 nm (0.1, 0.5, 2, 10, and 40 times for purple, light purple, orange, red, and brown lines, respectively). (ExpCH4flux200nm in Table 3). -- astro-ph.EP

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Status Report

Controls of Atmospheric Methane on Early Earth and Inhabited Earth-like Terrestrial Exoplanets

by Keith CowingNovember 14, 2023November 14, 2023

Methane (CH4) is a primarily biogenic greenhouse gas. As such, it represents an essential biosignature to search for life on exoplanets.

Methane

A Pole-to-Pole Map Of Hydrocarbons In Saturn’s Upper Stratosphere And Mesosphere

Why Is Methane Seeping on Mars? NASA Scientists Have New Ideas

Methane Emission From a Cool Brown Dwarf

Webb Space Telescope Finds Ethanol And Other Organic Molecules Surrounding Young Protostars

New Deep-sea Worm Discovered At Methane Seep Off Of Costa Rica

Atmospheric Pressure Changes Could Be Driving Mars’ Elusive Methane Pulses

Presence Of Methane Suggests Brown Dwarf Atmospheric Heating By Auroral Processes

Methane And Water Found In The Atmosphere Of Exoplanet WASP-80 b

From Seafloor To Space: New Bacterial Proteins Shine Light On Climate and Astrobiology

Controls of Atmospheric Methane on Early Earth and Inhabited Earth-like Terrestrial Exoplanets

Sea Ice As An Origin Of Life Location For Hycean And Ocean Worlds

Viruses, Proviruses and Satellites from Asgard Archaea Enrichments Reveal Complex Microbial Interactions

Mars Rover Curiosity’s Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) Calibration

Carbon and Sulfur Isotopes of Microfossils and Pyrites from Neoarchean Cherts: Microbial Diversity in an Ancient Deep-Marine Environment

Auroral Belts As Magnetically Localized Reactors For Prebiotic Chemistry On Early Earth