February 2023 – Page 2 – My WordPress Site

When asked about the prospect of finding life elsewhere in the universe NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy said "I personally think its inevitable". -- CNN

Astronomy & Telescopes, Brown Dwarfs, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy

Detecting Exomoons From Radial Velocity Measurements Of Self-luminous Planets: Application To Observations Of HR 7672 B And Future Prospects

by Keith CowingFebruary 26, 2023February 26, 2023

Astronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy

Microlensing Due To Free-Floating Moon-Planet Systems

by Keith CowingFebruary 26, 2023February 26, 2023

Career Opportunities, Conferences and Meetings, Courses, NASA Astrobiology Program

The AbGradCon Astrobiology Proposal Writing Retreat (PWR)

by Keith CowingFebruary 26, 2023February 26, 2023

Mars Perseverance Rover RIMFAX ground penetrating radar measurements of the Hawksbill Gap region of the Jezero Crater Western Delta, Mars. Hawksbill Gap. CREDIT Svein-Erik Hamran, Tor Berger, David Paige, University of Oslo, UCLA, California Institute of Technology Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA

Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biophysics, Mars

Thermal Creep On Mars: Visualizing A Soil Layer Under Tension

by Keith CowingFebruary 26, 2023February 26, 2023

Astronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy

The First Circumbinary Planet Discovered With Radial Velocities

by Keith CowingFebruary 26, 2023February 26, 2023

This image is an artist’s concept of the exoplanet GJ 9827d, the smallest exoplanet where water vapour has been detected in the atmosphere. The planet could be an example of potential planets with water-rich atmospheres elsewhere in our galaxy. With only about twice Earth’s diameter, the planet orbits the red dwarf star GJ 9827. Two inner planets in the system are on the left. The background stars are plotted as they would be seen to the unaided eye looking back toward our Sun. However, the Sun is too faint to be seen. The blue star at the upper right is Regulus; the yellow star at the centre bottom is Denebola; and the blue star at the bottom right is Spica. The constellation Leo is on the left, and Virgo is on the right. Both constellations are distorted from our Earth-bound view from 97 light-years away. -- Credits: NASA, ESA, Leah Hustak (STScI), Ralf Crawford (STScI)

Cryobiology, Enceladus, Icy Worlds

Understanding The Structure Of Enceladus’ Ice Shell

by Keith CowingFebruary 24, 2023February 24, 2023

Moons of our Solar System arranged by size and semi-major axis normalized by the planet’s radius. Circles indicate prograde moons while triangles are assigned to retrograde moons. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrogeology, Enceladus, Icy Worlds

How Enceladus Ejects Particles From Oceans Beneath Its Surface

by Keith CowingFebruary 23, 2023February 23, 2023

Carbonic Acid

Career Opportunities, Mars, Missions & Hardware

Impact of Early Career Researchers on Space Missions

by Keith CowingFebruary 23, 2023February 23, 2023

Inferred reflectance and temperature maps for each planet, where the center of the map corresponds to the sub-stellar point. The shading in the upper row corresponds to the single scattering albedo ω of the reflective region on the dayside. Cross validation prefers inhomogeneous models for each planet, so each dayside features a dark sub-stellar region bounded by sub-observer longitudes x1 and x2. The thermal emission maps in the second row are not uniform, but appear nearly uniform in this figure because the colormap spans the full range of dayside temperatures for all five planets. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Interstellar

Resonant Infrared Irradiation Of CO And CH3OH Interstellar Ices

by Keith CowingFebruary 23, 2023February 23, 2023

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Comets and Asteroids, Missions & Hardware

Ryugu Asteroid Sample Reveals That It Has A Rich Complement Of Organic Molecules

by Keith CowingFebruary 23, 2023February 23, 2023