[Astronomy and Astrophysics] Context. In the central molecular zone (CMZ) environment, shocks play a key role in both triggering star formation and providing chemical enrichment. The Sgr B2 complex is […]
Spectroscopy
Posted inBiophysics
How A Deep-sea Protein Adapts To An Extreme Environment
[Kyushu University] Life in the deep sea is under immense pressure—literally. Such extreme conditions can disrupt the delicate structures of proteins essential to life. Yet somehow, the proteins in deep-sea […]
Posted inStellar Cartography
Fingerprints Inside Our Sun Could Reveal If It Once Swallowed A Planet
[Royal Astronomical Society] It is thought the Sun may have engulfed a super-Earth-sized planet early in its history.
![The black line shows the empirical high-S/N template spectrum of Proxima Centauri (left) and Barnard’s Star (right). In the top panel, the green curve shows the median spectrum obtained by taking the median flux at each wavelength across the full grid of PHOENIX M-dwarf spectra, while the shaded region denotes the corresponding 1σ envelope. Comparing this range of model spectra with the empirical M-dwarf spectra demonstrates that the PHOENIX models do not adequately reproduce the observed spectra. The middle and bottom panels show either empirical templates or postellar spectral samples constructed from synthetic SPIRou observations of the respective stars at different S/N regimes. For the postellar spectra, the 1σ, 2σ, and 3σ intervals are shown, highlighting the uncertainties recovered on individual spectral feature. -- [astro-ph.EP]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/POSTELLAR.png?resize=1200%2C721&ssl=1)
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets
POSTELLAR: Posterior Stellar Spectrum Sampling – An Alternative to Approximate Stellar Spectra for Exoplanetary Analysis
[astro-ph.EP] We present a novel approach to perform posterior sampling of the underlying stellar spectrum in high-resolution spectroscopic observations.
Posted inBiosignatures & Paleobiology
Carbon and Sulfur Isotopes of Microfossils and Pyrites from Neoarchean Cherts: Microbial Diversity in an Ancient Deep-Marine Environment
[Astrobiology (Journal) via PubMed] The 2.52 Ga Gamohaan Formation in South Africa offers critical insights into microbial ecosystems that inhabited deep-marine environments during the late Archean.
Posted inTitan
NASA Administrator Visits Dragonfly Mass Spectrometer (DraMS)
[NASA]. Dragonfly will explore sites of interest around Titan’s equatorial regions and collect samples of surface material for analysis inside DraMS, the Dragonfly Mass Spectrometer.
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets
Two Extremely Irradiated Volatile-rich Sub-Neptunes With Companions In The TOI-426 And TOI-1839 Systems: Insights Into Arrival And Survival Near The Lower Edge Of The Neptunian Desert
[astro-ph.EP] Using TESS photometry and 147 HARPS radial velocities, we confirm two extremely irradiated, volatile-rich sub-Neptunes near the lower edge of the Neptunian desert: TOI-426 b and TOI-1839 b, orbiting […]
Posted inUncategorized
Multi-Wavelength Post-Perihelion Polarimetry of Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS
[astro-ph.EP] We present new post-perihelion polarimetric observations of the third discovered interstellar object, 3I/ATLAS (C/2025 N1; hereafter 3I), obtained using FORS2 at the Very Large Telescope, ALFOSC at the Nordic […]
Posted inImaging & Spectroscopy
Analytical Platform (Microsampling, Catapulting, Trapping, and LIBS) for the Characterization of Discrete Domains in Samples of Astrochemical Interest
[Analytical Chemistry] The chemical characterization of scarce or heterogeneous solid samples remains a significant analytical challenge due to the high material quantities required by conventional techniques.
![Map of the (top) phase ratio I(5◦ )/I(15◦ ) at 2.0 µm and (bottom) phase reddening (with spectral slope computed between 2.1 µm and 2.5 µm). The maps were computed using a 10◦ × 10◦ grid at the Ryugu surface. The particularly high phase ratio and low phase reddening values for some grid elements located at latitude above 10◦N are due to a narrower phase angle range (see Appendix F, Fig. 20). All grid elements above this latitude were discarded for the computation of the average east and west properties.-- [astro-ph.EP]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Updated.png?resize=1200%2C720&ssl=1)
Posted inImaging & Spectroscopy
Updated in-flight Calibration Of The Hayabusa2/NIRS3 Spectrometer: New Global Near-infrared Photometric Properties Of Asteroid (162173) Ryugu
[astro-ph.EP] The Near InfraRed Spectrometer (NIRS3) onboard Hayabusa2 observed asteroid (162173) Ryugu, searching especially for signatures of water-bearing minerals.