September 2022 – Page 9 – My WordPress Site

Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones

Could More Of Earth’s Surface Host Life?

by Keith CowingSeptember 9, 2022September 9, 2022

Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Density, Not Radius, Separates Rocky And Water-rich Small Planets Orbiting M Dwarf Stars

by Keith CowingSeptember 8, 2022September 8, 2022

ROV KIEL 6000 More information

Space Life Science, Space Physiology & Medicine, Space Stations, Tricorders & Sensors

Tricorder Tech: NASA Manages Astronaut Health With Effective Diagnostics Research

by Keith CowingSeptember 8, 2022November 25, 2023

Gravitational Biology, Microgravity, Space Life Science, Space Physiology & Medicine

Artificial Gravity Partially Protects Space-Related Central Nervous System Deficits in Organisms

by Keith CowingSeptember 8, 2022September 8, 2022

Evolution of the inertial-frame mode frequencies σ in units of the dynamical frequency Ωdyn (top panel) and the absolute value of the ℓ = m = 2 tidal overlap coefficients Qℓ,m (bottom panel) for the set of f-modes and i-modes we include during the pre-MS to MS evolution of the Prot,0 = 5 day (left) and 1 day (right) sets of stellar models. In the bottom panel, a subset of these modes are plotted. For the Prot,0 = 1 day models, i-modes that experience avoided crossings are plotted with a circle marker in the bottom panel. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrogeology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Water Worlds Are More Common Than We Thought

by Keith CowingSeptember 8, 2022September 8, 2022

Orbital phase coverage for the observations of τ Boo b. The orbital phase was calculated using the ephemeris from Wang & Ford (2011) and is relative to periastron of τ Boo b. The LOFAR and NenuFAR observations are labeled in red and orange, respectively. The original LOFAR observations were taken between February 18, 2017 and March 25, 2017. The τ Boo LOFAR observations with the tentative detections are displayed as large dark-blue rectangles. The tentative detection of burst emission was seen on February 18, 2017 and the slow emission was seen on March 6, 2017. An arbitrary number of days was placed between the 2020 and 2017 observations for clarity. -- astro-ph.EP

Imaging & Spectroscopy, Microbiology & Virology, Tricorders & Sensors

Tricorder Tech: Intelligent Microscopes For Detecting Rare Biological Events

by Keith CowingSeptember 8, 2022September 8, 2022

Bayesian analysis of the posterior likelihood of life, P(life|observation), based on assuming an observed value for network metrics and methane gas abundance. Given that the probability for life to exist on an exoplanet is unknown, we assess the posterior likelihood over a range of prior probabilities for life, P(life). Grey Regions highlight metric values that are associated with a zero probability of life and are therefore anti-biosignatures for the sets of models compared herein. In general, network metrics can provide greater constraints on the probability of life given a set of observations than CH4 abundance alone, allowing distinguishing cases where Earth-like methanogenesis can be ruled out even when CH4 abundance alone is not conclusive. -- astro-ph.EP

Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

NSF Ideas Lab Program Solicitation: Engineering Technologies to Advance Underwater Sciences (ETAUS)

by Keith CowingSeptember 8, 2022September 8, 2022

Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones

Two Temperate Super-Earths Transiting A Nearby Late-type M Dwarf

by Keith CowingSeptember 7, 2022September 7, 2022

a. Model surface spectral flux, 𝐼𝑠 (𝜆;𝑇𝑠) , for planets within the middle of the habitable zone around parent stars of different effective temperatures, 𝑇𝑠. The spectral fluxes are taken from PHOENIX radiative transfer models (Husser et al. 2013) of surface spectral flux and the habitable distances are estimated according to a simple radiative equilibrium model outlined in the Methodology. A sparse range of temperatures is shown purely for clarity and the vertical dashed lines approximately demarcate the absorption regions for oxygenic and anoxygenic photosynthesis, with the former often referred to as photosynthetically active radiation (PAR). b. A schematic diagram of the concept of a dual-input noise-cancelling antenna. Two sub-populations of pigments with similar (but different) absorption maxima funnel energy to the reaction centre (RC) which oxidizes an electron donor and reduces an acceptor. The two absorbing populations tend to operate in series (e.g. Chl b transferring energy to Chl a in plant antenna complexes) and are subject to both external and internal noise. The former reflects the highly dynamic nature of the light-environment while the latter results from fluctuations of the energy transfer pathways within the antenna. c. An example of the matrix representation of Δ 𝑜𝑝 (𝜆0, Δ𝜆) for a fixed value of absorber width, 𝜎 = 10 nm. Above this is an illustration of two examples of antenna configuration superimposed on the 2800 K spectrum (dark red). 𝑇 = 2800 K is chosen here purely for illustrative purposes as it exhibits many sharp bands of optimal (and extremely sub-optimal) antenna configurations. Note the distinction between the standard deviation or ’width’, 𝜎, and the Full Width at Half Maximum, Γ 2.63𝜎 of the Gaussian peak. -- astro-ph.SR

Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Venus

Hot Earth Or Young Venus? A Nearby Transiting Rocky Planet Mystery

by Keith CowingSeptember 7, 2022September 7, 2022

NASA astronaut and Expedition 70 Flight Engineer Loral O'Hara shows off tools she will use during a spacewalk to swab surfaces on the International Space Station and collect potential microbe samples for analysis. iss070e002159_alt (Sept. 30, 2023) - larger image iss070e002159_alt~large.jpg

Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, TRAPPIST-1

SPECULOOS Discovers A Potentially Habitable Super-Earth

by Keith CowingSeptember 7, 2022September 7, 2022