December 2025 – Page 21 – My WordPress Site

Illustration of the workflow for the construction of coupled interior-atmosphere models with ATHENAIA.

Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy

A Window For Water-hydrogen Demixing On Warm Metal-rich Sub-Neptunes

by Keith CowingDecember 3, 2025December 3, 2025

An example of a simulated spectrum for a Proterozoic Earth–like planet, in which no single feature dominates but absorption from numerous molecules is visible, including O2 and O3. The N2O features (shown in brown) appear at multiple wavelengths beyond 1 μm. Source: Tokadjian et al. (2024); image used unchanged under the CC BY 4.0 license. -- Science Direct

Astronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy

Current Opinions And Trends In The Search For Extrasolar Photosynthesis

by Keith CowingDecember 3, 2025December 3, 2025

(d) Cryo-ET slice through a cell body of early-log phase Ca. Y. umbracryptum with multiple intracellular vesicles. Scale bar: 100 nm. (e) Semantic segmentation of the tomogram shown in panel d) depicting the cell membrane (pink), cell-surface proteins (pale green), pili (blue), ribosomes (grey), cytoskeletal filaments (yellow) and intracellular vesicles (orange). Scale bar: 100 nm. -- biorxiv.org

Away Teams & Field Reports, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Microbiology & Virology, Nanotechnology & SynBio, Sample Return

An Asgard Archaeon With Internal Membrane Compartments

by Keith CowingDecember 3, 2025December 3, 2025

Antarctic Search for Meteorites Program (ANSMET)

Analog Studies, Arctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Astrogeology, Away Teams & Field Reports, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Meteorites & Asteroids, Sample Return

Antarctic Search for Meteorites Program (ANSMET) 2025-26 Field Season Cancellation

by Keith CowingDecember 3, 2025

Absorption cross-section per molecule extracted from the ExoMol database. For this plot, we set the temperature to 2800 K and pressure to 7.7 kPa as thermal and pressure broadening parameters. Note that MgO has very broad peaks spanning the visible and IR and will play a large role in the atmosphere’s radiative balance. --astro-ph.EP

Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Lava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds

Rock Vapour Is Opaque: Implications For Dynamics And Observations Of Lava Planets

by Keith CowingDecember 3, 2025December 3, 2025

A team of Japanese and US scientists have discovered the bio-essential sugars ribose and glucose in samples of asteroid Bennu that were collected by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission. This finding builds on the earlier discovery of nucleobases (the genetic components of DNA and RNA), phosphate, and amino acids (the building blocks of proteins) in the Bennu samples, showing that the molecular ingredients of life could have been delivered to early Earth by meteorites. Download this graphic from NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio website: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14932 NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona/Dan Gallagher

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Icy Worlds, Meteorites & Asteroids, Missions & Hardware, Origin & Evolution of Life, Planetary Protection & Biosafety, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, Sample Return

Sugars And Stardust Found In NASA’s Asteroid Bennu Samples

by Keith CowingDecember 2, 2025December 2, 2025

When haze built up in the atmosphere of Archean Earth, the young planet might have looked like this artist’s interpretation – a pale orange dot. Credits: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Francis Reddy

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Habitable Zones, Origin & Evolution of Life

Study Suggests Ancient Earth Skies Rained Down The Ingredients For Life

by Keith CowingDecember 2, 2025December 2, 2025

Researchers from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California monitor a research drone in the Dumont Dunes area of the Mojave Desert in September as part of a test campaign to develop navigation software to guide future rotorcraft on Mars. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Away Teams & Field Reports, Exploration Gear & Tech, Mars, Missions & Hardware, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs

NASA Tests Future Mars Droids In Death Valley

by Keith CowingDecember 2, 2025December 2, 2025

Chignik, Sol 680 "Hydrated" class Al203 ~ 17-29 wt.% -- NASA

Analog Studies, Astrogeology, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Mars, Meteorites & Asteroids, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Findings Suggest The Mars Was Warmer And Wetter Millions Of Years Ago

by Keith CowingDecember 2, 2025December 2, 2025

Sampling fluids of 180 degree Celsius at the White Sealhound structure. Photo: MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen

Away Teams & Field Reports, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exploration Gear & Tech, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Habitable Zones, Lava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Microbiology & Virology, Origin & Evolution of Life, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Sample Return, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Newly Discovered Hydrothermal Fields Off The Island Of Milos

by Keith CowingDecember 2, 2025December 2, 2025