Comets and Asteroids – Page 4 – My WordPress Site

a 187Os/188Os ratios represent age-corrected (red circle) and measured (white circle) isotope ratios. bOs and Re concentrations. cIr and Ru concentrations. d Pt and Pd concentrations. e Os/Ir ratios. Planktic foraminiferal zonations A21 and W11 are from ref. 29 and ref. 31, respectively. Os/Ir ratios for CI chondrite and upper continental crust (UCC) are from refs. -- University of Texas Austin

Away Teams & Field Reports, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Extinction events, Fossils & Paleontology, Habitable Zones, Impact events, Sample Return, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Hydrothermal System Helped Life Recover After Dino-Killing Asteroid

by Keith CowingFebruary 18, 2026February 18, 2026

Nature Communications via PubMed

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Meteorites & Asteroids, Missions & Hardware, Sample Return

Bennu And Ryugu Cconstituents From Samples IR Analyses And Potential Source Of Terrestrial Planets’ Ingredients

by Keith CowingFebruary 17, 2026February 17, 2026

Upper. Detections of H2O, HCN, C2H2, and OH∗ in E3 covering iSHELL echelle order 170–172. The uppermost trace is the observed cometary spectrum with the telluric transmittance model superimposed. Below are individual molecular fluorescence models color-coded by species. The bottom trace shows the residual (cometary spectrum minus all models) with the 1σ uncertainty envelope overlaid and shaded. Lower. Zoomed plots covering the gray shaded regions indicated in the upper panel. In this case, the uppermost trace is the telluric-subtracted comet spectrum, with individual fluorescence models plotted below. We searched for NH2, a potentially confounding species in this spectral region, but did not detect it. Our 3σ upper limit is NH2/H2O < 0.03%. -- astro-ph.EP

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

Coma Volatile Composition And Thermal Physics In Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) Measured Near Closest Approach To Earth With NASA-IRTF

by Keith CowingFebruary 11, 2026February 11, 2026

Analyzing a precious bit of space dust no bigger than a teaspoon, the Penn State team used custom instruments capable of measuring isotopes, slight variations in the mass of atoms. Credit Jaydyn Isiminger / Penn State

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Missions & Hardware, Nanotechnology & SynBio, Sample Return

Amino Acids Discovered In Asteroid Bennu Formed In Space In The Early Solar System

by Keith CowingFebruary 10, 2026February 10, 2026

Astronomy & Telescopes, Beta Pictoris, Comets and Asteroids, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy

Visual Inspection Of Potential Exocomet Transits Identified Through Machine Learning And Statistical Methods

by Keith CowingFebruary 7, 2026February 7, 2026

Cosmic dust analogue on a chip. The cocktail of chemicals was collected on a microchip. Photo: Fiona Wolf

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Meteorites & Asteroids, Planetary Protection & Biosafety, Sample Return

This Student Made Cosmic Dust In Her Lab. What She Found Could Help Us Understand How Life Started On Earth

by Keith CowingFebruary 3, 2026February 3, 2026

Orgueil Carbonaceous Chondrite - Wikipedia

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Meteorites & Asteroids, Sample Return

Abiotic Sugar Enantiomers In The CI Carbonaceous Chondrite Orgueil

by Keith CowingFebruary 3, 2026March 2, 2026

Spectra of NEOs with (potential) 3-µm absorption features. (A) Spectrum of (161989) Cacus as observed on 3&4 September 2022. (B) (756998) 2024 CR9 as observed on 9 June 2024. (C) 1998 HH49 as observed on 19 October 2023. (D) 2006 WB as observed on 27 November 2024. The blue points represent the reflectance spectra (thermal component removed) and the red dashed lines are the reflected continua. -- astro-ph.EP

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

Hydration Features on Near-Earth Objects: Integrating New Data with Prior Results

by Keith CowingFebruary 3, 2026February 3, 2026

KUBIK onboard the ISS -- NASA

Astropharmacy / Biotechnology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biophysics, Comets and Asteroids, Commercial & Private Sector, Meteorites & Asteroids, Microbiology & Virology, Microgravity, Missions & Hardware, Nanotechnology & SynBio, Space Life Science, Space Stations

Microbial Biomining From Asteroidal Material Onboard The International Space Station

by Keith CowingFebruary 3, 2026February 3, 2026

The continuum-subtracted KCWI spectrum of 3I/ATLAS between 3325 Å and 5225 Å, extracted from a 2'' aperture centered on the comet. Cometary emission species are denoted as follows: Ni as red dotted lines, Fe as green dashed lines, CN as solid blue lines, C2 as dotted light purple lines, and C3 as dashed dark purple lines. The C2 and C3 lines shown may not be individually resolved. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar

Post-Perihelion Integral Field Spectroscopy Of The Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS

by Keith CowingJanuary 27, 2026January 27, 2026