Gaia – Planetary Perspectives

[L] NASA ID: art002e000192 art002e000192 (April 3, 2026) -- NASA [R] art002e000193 (April 3, 2026) -- NASA

Artemis & Lunar Exploration, Astronauts and Explorers, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, People Of Astrobiology, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Our Home World As Seen From Spaceship Integrity During Artemis II

by Keith CowingApril 11, 2026

Left: A view of Earth taken by NASA astronaut and Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman from one of the Orion spacecraft’s window after completing the translunar injection burn on April 2, 2026.

Antarctic Circumpolar Current (Photo: Alfred Wegener Institute / Hanna Knahl, Patrick Scholz)

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Icy Ocean World Recon: How Did Earth’s Most Powerful Ocean Current Form?

by Keith CowingApril 9, 2026April 9, 2026

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Caves, Craters, Mountains & Lava Tubes, Comets and Asteroids, Extinction events, Fossils & Paleontology, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Origin & Evolution of Life

The Zhamanshin Impact Event: Potential Implications for Environmental Responses and Biological Linkages on Earth and Beyond

by Keith CowingApril 7, 2026April 7, 2026

Height scales of atmospheres of Solar System’s terrestrial planets. The solid lines show the temperature profiles against altitude, while the background colour reflects the atmospheric pressure. Horizontal dashed lines denote the average positions of atmospheric boundaries: tropopause (“t”), stratopause (“s”), and mesopause (“m”). Vertical cyan lines depict the extension of ionospheres (“i”) under typical conditions. The “⊙” symbol denotes the 100 mbar level. -- Space Science Reviews via PubMed

Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Habitable Zones

Upper Atmosphere Dynamics and Drivers of Volatiles Loss from Terrestrial-Type (Exo)Planets

by Keith CowingApril 6, 2026April 6, 2026

Artist’s impression showing possible choices for the scale of human involvement in the future of Mars.

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Beta Pictoris, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Desert Worlds, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Mars, Terraforming & Geoengineering, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

A Research Roadmap For Assessing The Feasibility Of Warming Mars

by Keith CowingApril 3, 2026April 3, 2026

A schematic diagram of the hycean Lotka-Volterra model we implement in this work. The schematic shows how various parameters in our model are connected in a vertical, one-dimensional water column.

AI - Data - Apps - Cybernetics, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Habitable Zones, Proxima Centauri, TRAPPIST-1, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Ecological Modelling Of Hycean Worlds

by Keith CowingMarch 25, 2026

Paleopoles based on averages of sample Virtual Geomagnetic Poles (VGPs) rather than site VGPs.

Astrogeology, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives

Study Shows Movement Of Tectonic Plates 3.5 Billion Years Ago

by Keith CowingMarch 24, 2026March 24, 2026

A diagram depicting habitable zone boundaries across star type with rocky exoplanets from Bohl et al. (2026). The boundaries of the habitable zone shift based on star colour, since different wavelengths of light will heat a planet's atmosphere differently. Credit Gillis Lowry / Pablo Carlos Budassi Licence type Attribution (CC BY 4.0)

Astronomy & Telescopes, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Gaia Mission, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, People Of Astrobiology, TRAPPIST-1

Where To Find Other Earths? New List Narrows Down The Targets

by Keith CowingMarch 20, 2026March 20, 2026

Strength of key long-term feedbacks governing Earth’s climate system (D. S. Abbot 2016; D. D. B. Koll & T. W. Cronin 2018; C. W. Arnscheidt & D. H. Rothman 2020; P. Forster et al. 2021). Each bar represents the feedback parameter in W m−2 K−1, estimated from Earth system model assessments and paleoclimate constraints. The upper axis shows the approximate feedback strength associated with a 50 K climate perturbation, representative of transitions between major states (e.g., snowball to temperate). Feedbacks are sorted by magnitude. Negative values (blue) represent stabilizing feedback that dampens temperature changes, while positive values (orange) indicate destabilizing feedback that amplifies them. Outgoing longwave radiation and the carbonate–silicate cycle are among the strongest stabilizing processes, while the ice–albedo feedback exerts a strong destabilizing influence. Models incorporating the three dominant types of feedback explain the general behavior of Earth’s long-term mean climate. -- The Planetary Science Journal

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Habitable Zones

Not Earth-like Yet Temperate? More Generic Climate Feedback Configurations Still Allow Temperate Climates in Habitable Zone Exo-Earth Candidates

by Keith CowingMarch 20, 2026March 20, 2026

The researchers focused on exceptionally well-preserved sedimentary rocks deposited on ancient seafloors in what is now southern Sweden. Credit Unil

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Fossils & Paleontology, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Origin & Evolution of Life

Refining The Clock Of Earth’s Early Complex Animal Life

by Keith CowingMarch 18, 2026March 18, 2026