A planet that is about the size of Saturn, but with a temperature more like Earth’s, has an atmosphere rich in methane, according to a new study using NASA’s James […]
Transmission spectroscopy
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report
The First Remotely Detected Biosignature May Not Be the Most Common: Implications for JWST and HWO
The first detected member of a new astronomical class is often not representative of the underlying population, but instead reflects the selection effects of the observing technique that found it.
Posted inAstrochemistry, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Status Report
Detecting Fundamental Chiral Biosignatures in the Ultraviolet Polarization Spectrum
Chiral molecules are ubiquitous and necessary for life as we know it. In extant life, the amino acid and sugar constituents of proteins and biopolymers consist of only one enantiomer.
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report
Agentic Science Toolkit for Exoplanet Research
The expansion of exoplanet observations has created a need for flexible, accessible, and user-friendly workflows.
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report
Exploring The Surface Of HD 189733 via Doppler Shadow Analysis Of Planetary Transits
Transmission spectroscopy has greatly advanced the study of exoplanet atmospheres, but stellar surface heterogeneities can contaminate transit spectra. Characterising how stellar spectra vary across the stellar disc is therefore essential […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report, Stellar Cartography
Efficient Reduction Of Stellar Contamination And Noise In Planetary Transmission Spectra Using Neural Networks
Context: JWST has enabled transmission spectroscopy at unprecedented precision, but stellar heterogeneities (spots and faculae) remain a dominant contamination source that can bias atmospheric retrievals if uncorrected.
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release, Stellar Cartography
The MUSCLES Extension for Atmospheric Transmission Spectroscopy: Spectral energy distributions For 20 Exoplanet Host Stars That JWST Observed in Cycle 1
Correctly interpreting JWST spectra of close-in exoplanets requires a measurement of the X-ray and ultraviolet light that the planets receive from their host stars. Here we provide spectral energy distributions […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report
JWST COMPASS: A NIRSpec G395H Transmission Spectrum Of The Super-Earth GJ 357 b
We present JWST NIRSpec/G395H transmission spectroscopy observations of GJ 357 b, a warm (Teq≈525 K) super-Earth (1.2 R⊕, 1.84 M⊕) orbiting a nearby M3-type star, with a median precision of […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Status Report
Exploring The Formation And Alteration Of Organics In Ice: Experimental Insights For Astrochemistry And Space Missions
The formation and alteration of organic molecules within the Solar System and beyond is closely related to the life cycle of ice in space. Cold molecular clouds in the interstellar […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report
An Eccentric Sub-Neptune Moving Into the Evaporation Desert
Though missions such as Kepler, K2, and TESS have discovered >2,000 sub-Neptune and Neptunian planets, there is a dearth of such planets at close-in (P≲3 days) orbits.