November 2023 – My WordPress Site

Astronomy & Telescopes, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Proxima Centauri, TRAPPIST-1

Detecting Biosignatures in Nearby Rocky Exoplanets using High-Contrast Imaging and Medium-Resolution Spectroscopy with Extremely Large Telescope

by Keith CowingNovember 30, 2023November 30, 2023

In the upcoming decades, one of the primary objectives in exoplanet science is to search for habitable planets and signs of extraterrestrial life in the universe.

Astrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Imaging & Spectroscopy

ALMA High-resolution Spectral Survey of Thioformaldehyde (H2CS) Towards Massive Protoclusters

by Keith CowingNovember 30, 2023November 30, 2023

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

The EBLM Project — From False Positives to Benchmark Stars and Circumbinary Exoplanet

by Keith CowingNovember 30, 2023November 30, 2023

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity prepares for a thorough examination of the unusual, dark “Tungsten Hills” rocks in front of it, studying these rugged boulders covered in paper-thin sedimentary layers, some of which contain intriguing ripple structures that may have formed in running water or windblown sand. This image was taken by Left Navigation Camera aboard Curiosity on Sol 4298 — Martian day 4,298 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission — on Sept. 8, 2024, at 06:35:57 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech larger image -- NASA

Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biophysics, Commercial & Private Sector, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Magnetic Fields, Electromagnetism, bioelectricity,, Microbiology & Virology, Nanotechnology & SynBio

Capturing CO2 With Electricity: A Microbial Enzyme Inspires Electrochemistry

by Keith CowingNovember 30, 2023November 30, 2023

The predicted uncompressed density of the Pluto-Charon system (colored curves) as the fraction of the protosolar C inventory contained in refractory organics increases from 0% to 100%, assuming the canonical protosolar abundances in Lodders 2021 (L21, see Table 1). The horizontal black dashed line represents the average uncompressed density of the system ∼ 1800 kg m−3 (Barr & Schwamb 2016; McKinnon et al. 2017), taken to be the most representative value we have for the bulk composition of large KBOs. The gray area shows the 3σ uncertainty (± 20 kg m−3 , Brozovi´c et al. 2015, McKinnon et al. 2017, Nimmo et al. 2017). -- astro-ph.EP

Astrogeology, Astronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets

Astronomers Discover A Disc Around A Star In Another Galaxy For The First Time

by Keith CowingNovember 30, 2023November 30, 2023

Possible methane vapor profiles in ice giants. In red we plot several possible methane vapor profiles constrained by observations from Sromovsky et al. (2014) and Irwin et al. (2021) (we plot the range of the latitudinal variations) and by saturation curves corresponding to Voyager 2 temperature profiles. Criterion curves in black indicate when moist convection is inhibited: when the specific concentration is higher than the critical specific concentration and the level is saturated, then the criterion applies. These possible methane vapor profiles are inspired by the tested profiles in Sromovsky et al. (2019) who talk about "descended profiles". -- astro-ph.EP

Astronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Brown Dwarfs, Imaging & Spectroscopy

JWST/NIRSpec Observations Of The Coldest Known Brown Dwarf

by Keith CowingNovember 30, 2023November 30, 2023

Voyager 1 -- NASA

Astronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, NASA Astrobiology Program, Reports, Roadmaps, & Plans

Assessment of NASA’s NExSS Research Coordination Network

by Keith CowingNovember 30, 2023November 30, 2023

Europa Clipper -- NASA

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

Webb Study Reveals That Rocky Planets Can Form In Extreme Environments

by Keith CowingNovember 30, 2023November 30, 2023

Magnetic field analysis for the star 2M07590587+1523294. The left panels show the four Fe I lines used in the modeling: black dots are the observed APOGEE spectrum, red dashed lines are synthetic profiles computed without a magnetic field, and dark blue lines are our best fits obtained from the MCMC modeling. The right panel is a corner plot that presents the median and uncertainties (from 16th and 84th percentiles) of the derived parameters, which includes filling factors from magnetic fields between 2 and 6 kG in steps of 2 kG. We also show the final magnetic field result and its uncertainties. -- astro-ph.SR

Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Cryobiology, Europa, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Missions & Hardware, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Investigating Europa’s Habitability with the Europa Clipper

by Keith CowingNovember 29, 2023May 27, 2024

Left: Contrast images applying the final DM solution to the ideal (noiseless) optical model for an ERD (top) and EMCCD (bottom). Right: Final camera images at that same base contrast showing the number of counts present in the dark zone of the final images for the ERD (top) and EMCCD (bottom). These images are for texp = 5 minutes. -- astro-ph.IM

Exploration Gear & Tech, Microbiology & Virology, Missions & Hardware, Space Life Science, Space Stations

Offworld Biology Research: Loral O’Hara Applies Oceanography Lab Skills On The ISS

by Keith CowingNovember 29, 2023November 29, 2023