In Jessica Barnes’ palm is an ancient, coin-sized mosaic of glass, minerals and rocks as thick as a strand of wool fiber. It is a slice of Martian meteorite, known […]
University of Arizona
Posted inAstrochemistry, Press Release
Mysteries Behind Interstellar Buckyballs Finally Answered
Scientists have long been puzzled by the existence of so-called “buckyballs” — complex carbon molecules with a soccer-ball-like structure — throughout interstellar space. Now, a team of researchers from the […]
Posted inPress Release, Titan
Ice Feature Found On Titan
Rain, seas and a surface of eroding organic material can be found both on Earth and on Saturn’s largest moon, Titan. However, on Titan it is methane, not water, that […]
Posted inPress Release, TRAPPIST-1
Powerful Particles And Tugging Tides May Affect Extraterrestrial Life
Since its discovery in 2016, planetary scientists have been excited about TRAPPIST-1, a system where seven Earth-sized rocky planets orbit a cool star. Three of the planets are in the […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets
A Small Step Toward Discovering Habitable Earths
University of Arizona researchers snapped images of a planet outside our solar system with an Earth-based telescope using essentially the same type of imaging sensor found in digital cameras instead […]
Posted inCaves, Craters, Mountains, Subsurface, Lava Tubes, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Press Release
A Living Desert Underground
In the perpetual darkness of a limestone cave, UA researchers have discovered a surprisingly diverse ecosystem of microbes eking out a living from not much more than drip water, rock […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Fomalhaut
Astronomers Gear Up to Discover Earth-like Planets
As part of an international team of exoplanets hunters, astronomers at the University of Arizona are developing a technique to detect faint dust clouds around other stars, many of which […]