January 2025 – Page 2 – My WordPress Site

Mg, Na phosphate occurs with Mg phyllosilicates largely free of micron-sized sulfide inclusions. The Mg,Na phosphate–Mg phyllosilicate veins rim large dolomite (Dol) grains that include magnetite (multielement Kα X-ray map; sample no. OREX-803085-100). Scale bar, 200 μm. -- Nature

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Meteorites & Asteroids, Missions & Hardware, Planetary Protection & Biosafety, Sample Return

Pristine Asteroid Samples Reveal Secrets Of The Ancient Solar System

by Keith CowingJanuary 30, 2025January 30, 2025

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Meteorites & Asteroids, Missions & Hardware, Planetary Protection & Biosafety, Sample Return

Exploring The Mysteries Of Asteroid Bennu

by Keith CowingJanuary 30, 2025January 30, 2025

a, Summed mass spectrum acquired from several ~100 μm grains mounted on a KBr window with mass peaks for ammonia (NH3), sodium (Na), formaldehyde (H2C=O), hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and potassium (K) indicated. Spectrum acquired by μ-L2MS using a vacuum UV photoionization at 118 nm. b, Optical mosaic of particle with yellow box demarking region mapped by μ-L2MS. c, Spatial map of ammonia distribution overlaid over optical image. The μ-L2MS laser beam spot size was 5 μm. -- Nature Astronomy

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Meteorites & Asteroids, Missions & Hardware, Planetary Protection & Biosafety, Sample Return

Dust From asteroid Bennu: Building Blocks Of Life And Possible Habitats Were Widespread In Our Solar System

by Keith CowingJanuary 30, 2025January 30, 2025

Scanning electron microscope images of trona found in samples of the asteroid Bennu returned by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission. -- Credit Rob Wardell, Tim Gooding and Tim McCoy, Smithsonian.

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Icy Worlds, Meteorites & Asteroids, Missions & Hardware, Origin & Evolution of Life, Planetary Protection & Biosafety, Sample Return

Traces Of Ancient Brine Discovered On Asteroid Bennu Contain Minerals Crucial To Life

by Keith CowingJanuary 30, 2025January 30, 2025

In this video frame, Jason Dworkin holds up a vial that contains part of the sample from asteroid Bennu delivered to Earth by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security – Regolith Explorer) mission in 2023. Dworkin is the mission’s project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Credit: NASA/James Tralie

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Meteorites & Asteroids, Missions & Hardware, Planetary Protection & Biosafety, Sample Return

Asteroid Bennu Sample Reveals A Mix Of Life’s Ingredients

by Keith CowingJanuary 29, 2025January 30, 2025

Space Life Science Research -- Grok via Astrobiology.com

Microbiology & Virology, Microgravity, Space Agriculture, Space Life Science, Space Physiology & Medicine, Space Stations

NASA ROSES-24 Amendment 110: Due Dates Delayed and Other Changes to E.9 Space Biology and E.12 Physical Sciences

by Keith CowingJanuary 29, 2025January 29, 2025

A view from the "Kimberley" formation on Mars taken by NASA's Curiosity rover. The strata in the foreground dip towards the base of Mount Sharp, indicating flow of water toward a basin that existed before the larger bulk of the mountain formed. -- NASALarger image

Astrogeology, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Habitable Zones, Magnetic Fields, Electromagnetism, bioelectricity,, Mars, Sample Return

What We Can Learn About Mars From The Magnetism of Returned Samples

by Keith CowingJanuary 29, 2025January 29, 2025

From left to right: M 82 NOEMA CO(J=1-0), MIRI-F770W, and MIRI-F1130W images in cutouts of 5′ ×4.2 ′. The left panel also contains the molecular clouds identified in §3.2 (white contours), the centroid of the CO(J = 1 − 0) and the different regions identified in the starburst as described in Krieger et al. (2021). The inset in the left panel correspond to the NOEMA beamsize at ν = 115 GHz. The green crosses in the middle and right panels are indicate the optical center of M 82. The black contours in the middle and right panels correspond to the regions covered by the MIRI-MRS and the yellow boxes are the regions with Spitzer IRS data from Beirão et al. (2008); both are used in this work to apply a first-order continuum subtraction (see §3.1). -- astro-ph.GA

Astrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar

JWST Observations of Starbursts: Relations Between PAH Features and CO Clouds in the Starburst Galaxy M 82

by Keith CowingJanuary 29, 2025January 29, 2025

Color image of comet 12P/Pons-Brooks, showing the “dark lane” feature visible inside the coma, obtained on 2023 November 19.11 UT. The image was captured remotely using a T68 0.28-m f/2.2 RASA astrograph and CMOS camera at the iTelescope observatory (U94) in the Great Basin Desert, Beryl Junction, Utah, USA. The estimated total magnitude is 8.7, with a coma diameter of 9.1 arcmin. A faint tail, approximately 17.7 arcmin in length, is visible at a position angle of 44◦ -- astro-ph.EP

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy

Mass of Particles Released by Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks During 2023-2024 Outbursts

by Keith CowingJanuary 29, 2025January 29, 2025

Archaeal composition across 152 Tengchong geothermal spring samples. (a) Relative abundance of Archaea within microbial communities. (b) Heatmap of the relative abundance of each archaeal class within archaeal communities. Samples are clustered by geothermal spring pools, and detailed information for each sample is provided in Supplementary Table 1. -- Sci Data via PubMed

Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Microbiology & Virology, Sample Return

Recovery Of Nearly 3,000 Archaeal Genomes From 152 Terrestrial Geothermal Spring Metagenomes

by Keith CowingJanuary 29, 2025September 18, 2025