rock exoplanet Archives - Astrobiology

Schematic picture of the system assumed in this study. (a) A supernova explosion occurs at a distance 𝑑 from the protosolar disk, and (b) the expanding supernova shockwave contacts the protosolar disk. At this time, a huge number of accelerated particles are trapped in the shockwave region. With the contact, (c-1) SLRs synthesized inside the supernova are directly injected into the disk, and (c-2) particles trapped inside the shockwave irradiate the disk, causing nucleosynthesis within the disk. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Meteorites & Asteroids, Status Report

Cosmic-Ray Bath in a Past Supernova Gives Birth to Earth-Like Planets

by Keith CowingDecember 15, 2025December 15, 2025

A key question in astronomy is how ubiquitous Earth-like rocky planets are. The formation of terrestrial planets in our solar system was strongly influenced by the radioactive decay heat of […]

The average Eureka! transmission spectrum of L 98-59 b from the four JWST NIRSpec/G395H transits compared against the 98% SO2 model predicted in Seligman et al. (2024) and a self-consistent photochemical model assuming an SO2 -dominated atmosphere. We also show the best-fit flat line and atmosphere models retrieved with Aurora on the ∆λ = 0.01 µm data and the corresponding 2σ uncertainty bands. All models include an offset between the two detectors. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrogeology, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report

Evidence For A Volcanic Atmosphere On The Sub-Earth L98-59b

by Keith CowingFebruary 5, 2025February 5, 2025

Assessing the prevalence of atmospheres on rocky planets around M-dwarf stars is a top priority of exoplanet science. High-energy activity from M-dwarfs can destroy the atmospheres of these planets, which […]

Statistical significance (as a function of wavelength) of the difference in retrieved emission flux calculated via LIFEsim between the biotic and abiotic scenarios studied in this work. The columns (from left to right) show increasing planet instellation; the different rows show different observation integration times (from 24–240 hours) -- astro-ph.EP

AI - Data - Apps - Cybernetics, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Habitable Zones, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Detectability Of Biosignatures In Warm, Water-rich Atmospheres

by Keith CowingDecember 3, 2024December 3, 2024

Warm rocky exoplanets within the habitable zone of Sun-like stars are favoured targets for current and future missions. Theory indicates these planets could be wet at formation and remain habitable […]

Distribution of planets in the mass–radius diagram color-coded by their Teq. The curves display the expected mass-radius relationship for different compositions taken from Luo et al. (2024). -- astro-ph.SR

Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Status Report

Linking The Primordial Composition of Planet Building Disks to the Present-day Composition of Rocky Exoplanets

by Keith CowingOctober 24, 2024October 24, 2024

The composition of rocky planets is strongly driven by the primordial materials in the protoplanetary disk, which can be inferred from the abundances of the host star. Understanding this compositional […]

Are the observed high-density exoplanets metal-rich remnants of giant impacts? a, Super-Earths are predicted to complete their formation through giant impacts whose energies are too low to strip their rocky mantles and form metal-rich planets (Scora et al., 2020, 2022; Poon et al., 2020; Esteves et al., 2022; Goldberg and Batygin, 2022). b, After their formation ceases, super-Earths may remain on closely spaced orbits typical of observed compact systems (Weiss et al., 2022) and can experience instabilities over timescales comparable to the main-sequence lifetime of the host stars (Volk and Gladman, 2015; Pu and Wu, 2015; Tamayo et al., 2020; Volk and Malhotra, 2020). c, If a compact system becomes unstable, super-Earths may experience a second stage of giant impacts that are more energetic than those that occurred during their formation (Volk and Gladman, 2015). These late giant impacts may erode the silicate mantles of the super-Earths to form metal-rich, high-density planets. d, The final, post-instability planetary system may have a metal-rich world with density akin to the measured densities of observed high-density exoplanets (Table 1). Colors indicate different planetary compositions: orange is metal-rich, blue indicates planets with a terrestrial composition (that is, differentiated in an iron core and a rocky mantle).-- astro-ph.EP

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Impact events, Status Report

Can Metal-rich Worlds Form By Giant Impacts?

by Keith CowingAugust 30, 2024August 29, 2024

Planets and stars are expected to be compositionally linked because they accrete from the same material reservoir. However, astronomical observations revealed the existence of exoplanets whose bulk density is far […]