https://phys.org/space-news/astrobiology en-us Astrobiology news stories about origin and evolution of life in the Universe Scientists have developed a new method to compute how tides affect the interiors of planets and moons. Importantly, the new study looks at the effects of body tides on objects that don't have a perfectly spherical interior structure, which is an assumption of most previous models. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-spectral-method-tidal-effects-planet.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Thu, 07 Nov 2024 14:08:02 EST news650210881 When we think of exoplanets that may be able to support life, we home in on the habitable zone. A habitable zone is a region around a star where planets receive enough stellar energy to have liquid surface water. It's a somewhat crude but helpful first step when examining thousands of exoplanets. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-stellar-threats-impact-habitable-zone.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Wed, 06 Nov 2024 15:56:04 EST news650130961 The key to unlocking the secrets of distant planets starts right here on Earth. Researchers at Tohoku University, the University of Tokyo, and Hokkaido University have developed a model that considers various atmospheric chemical reactions to estimate how the atmosphere—and the first signs of life—evolved on Earth. The study is published in Astrobiology. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-life-began-earth-ancient-atmosphere.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Wed, 30 Oct 2024 09:19:04 EDT news649498742 Evidence suggests Mars could very well have been teeming with life billions of years ago. Now cold, dry, and stripped of what was once a potentially protective magnetic field, the red planet is a kind of forensic scene for scientists investigating whether Mars was indeed once habitable, and if so, when. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-mars-habitable-thought.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Tue, 29 Oct 2024 15:51:04 EDT news649435862 The TRAPPIST-1 system is a science-fiction writer's dream. Seven Earth-sized worlds orbit a red dwarf star just 40 light-years away. Three of those worlds are within the habitable zone of the star. The system spans a distance less than 25 times that of the distance from the Earth to the moon. Oh, what epic tales a TRAPPIST civilization would have. That is, if life in such a system is even possible. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-life-trappist-survive-star-superflares.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Mon, 28 Oct 2024 12:46:03 EDT news649338361 The odds are good that we are not alone in the universe. We have found thousands of exoplanets so far, and there are likely billions of potentially habitable planets in our galaxy alone. But finding evidence of extraterrestrial life is challenging, and even the most powerful telescopes we currently have may not produce definitive proof. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-potentially-habitable-world-upcoming-life.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Mon, 28 Oct 2024 12:45:02 EDT news649338301 A team led by researchers at MIT has discovered that a distant interstellar cloud contains an abundance of pyrene, a type of large, carbon-containing molecule known as a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH). https://phys.org/news/2024-10-discovery-carbon-molecules-distant-interstellar.html Astrobiology Thu, 24 Oct 2024 14:00:01 EDT news648994420 Everybody knows that for life to thrive on any world, you need water, warmth, and something to eat. It's like a habitability mantra. But, what other factors affect habitability? What if you relaxed the conditions conducive to life? Would it still exist? If so, what would it be? https://phys.org/news/2024-10-life-habitable-environment-hostile-conditions.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Thu, 24 Oct 2024 12:34:16 EDT news648992052 Since its launch in late 2021, NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has raised the possibility that we could detect signs of life on exoplanets, or planets outside our solar system. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-rocky-planets-orbiting-small-stars.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Wed, 23 Oct 2024 11:14:03 EDT news648900841 Billions of years ago, long before anything resembling life as we know it existed, meteorites frequently pummeled the planet. One such space rock crashed down about 3.26 billion years ago, and even today, it's revealing secrets about Earth's past. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-giant-meteorite-impact-billion-years.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Mon, 21 Oct 2024 15:21:21 EDT news648742875 While actual evidence for life on Mars has never been found, a new NASA study proposes microbes could find a potential home beneath frozen water on the planet's surface. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-life-mars-ice-possibilities.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Thu, 17 Oct 2024 13:20:04 EDT news648390001 Scientists at the SETI Institute and partners from Penn State University used the Allen Telescope Array (ATA) to search for signs of alien technology in the TRAPPIST-1 star system. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-scientists-allen-telescope-array-radio.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Wed, 16 Oct 2024 10:00:01 EDT news648289779 Two Southwest Research Institute instruments were launched aboard NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft on Oct. 14 from the agency's Kennedy Space Center. The spacecraft is designed to conduct a detailed reconnaissance of Jupiter's moon Europa, investigating whether it could hold conditions suitable for life. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-instruments-potential-habitability-jupiter-moon.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Tue, 15 Oct 2024 15:28:10 EDT news648224886 Researchers have used the chemical fingerprints of zinc contained in meteorites to determine the origin of volatile elements on Earth. The results suggest that without 'unmelted' asteroids, there may not have been enough of these compounds on Earth for life to emerge. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-blocks-life-earth-zinc-fingerprints.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Fri, 11 Oct 2024 14:00:01 EDT news647855521 Once you know where to look for them, lichens are everywhere. These composite organisms—fungal and photosynthetic partners joined into a greater whole—can survive on a vast array of surfaces, from rocks and trees to bare ground and buildings. They are known from every continent, and almost certainly every land mass on planet Earth; some species have even survived exposure to the exterior of the International Space Station. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-mars-analog-stations-lichen-biodiversity.html Astrobiology Fri, 11 Oct 2024 12:38:28 EDT news647869103 An international team of researchers with a wide range of backgrounds has found evidence of asteroids providing the compounds necessary for life to get its start on Earth. In their paper published in the journal Nature Astronomy, the group describes their study of a small sample of material collected from Ryugu that was brought back to Earth. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-ryugu-sample-analyses-asteroids-compounds.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Tue, 08 Oct 2024 10:47:01 EDT news647603214 On October 10, NASA is launching a hotly anticipated new mission to Jupiter's fourth-largest moon, Europa. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-nasa-major-mission-habitable-jupiter.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Mon, 07 Oct 2024 12:32:03 EDT news647523121 A Canadian-led international study has revealed new insights into the atmosphere of GJ 9827 d—an exoplanet orbiting the star GJ 9827 in the constellation Pisces, about 98 light-years from Earth—using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). https://phys.org/news/2024-10-astronomers-webb-probe-steam-world.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Mon, 07 Oct 2024 10:28:37 EDT news647515712 A team of engineers and planetary scientists at Western University's Institute for Earth and Space Exploration, in Canada, has found that it might be possible to produce food for space travelers by feeding bacteria asteroid material, resulting in the growth of an edible biomass. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-possibility-asteroid-material-edible-biomass.html Space Exploration Astrobiology Fri, 04 Oct 2024 08:47:14 EDT news647250372 Pockets of microbes have been found living within a sealed fracture in a 2-billion-year-old rock. The rock was excavated from the Bushveld Igneous Complex in South Africa, an area known for its rich ore deposits. This is the oldest example of living microbes being found within ancient rock so far discovered. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-billion-year-early-life-earth.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Thu, 03 Oct 2024 12:23:05 EDT news647176974 Why is it important to search for exoplanets in triple star systems and how many can we find there? This is what a recent study accepted by Astrophysics & Space Science hopes to address after a pair of researchers from the University of Texas at Arlington investigated the statistical likelihood of triple star systems hosting exoplanets. This study holds the potential to help researchers better understand the formation and evolution of triple star systems and whether they are suitable for hosting life as we know it. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-statistical-likelihood-triple-star-hosting.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Wed, 02 Oct 2024 16:53:04 EDT news647106781 Venus is often described as a hellscape. The surface temperature breaches the melting point of lead, and though its atmosphere is dominated by carbon dioxide, it contains enough sulfuric acid to satisfy the comparison with Hades. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-block-life-venus-sulfuric-acid.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Fri, 27 Sep 2024 12:19:04 EDT news646658341 When a massive star explodes as a supernova, it does more than release an extraordinary amount of energy. Supernovae explosions are responsible for creating some of the heavy elements, including iron, which is blasted out into space by the explosion. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-nearby-supernova-left-earth-life.html Astronomy Astrobiology Wed, 25 Sep 2024 14:54:04 EDT news646494841 Astrochemist Ryan Fortenberry, UM associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry, collaborated with Ralf Kaiser, of the University of Hawaii at Mānoa, to study the creation of a simple sugar acid in space-like conditions. This molecule, glyceric acid, is considered a "building block" of life. The journal Physik in unserer Zeit recently published their research (in German). https://phys.org/news/2024-09-sweet-milky-astrochemist.html Astrobiology Wed, 25 Sep 2024 13:50:01 EDT news646487513 What took so long for humans to appear on Earth? The Earth is 4.6 billion years old, and life began about 4 billion years ago, yet humans—the only intelligent, technological species we know of in the universe—have existed only for the last 200,000 years. Why didn't we come sooner? What factor(s) delayed our appearance? And what can life's timeline here say about the possibility of other technologically advanced lifeforms in the universe? https://phys.org/news/2024-09-hard-evolutionary-history-human-intelligence.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Wed, 25 Sep 2024 10:00:01 EDT news646476180 One way to understand the potential for life on far-off planets—those in other solar systems that orbit different stars—is to study a planet's atmosphere. Telescopic images often capture traces of gases that may indicate life and habitable planets. But findings from a new study led by researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder challenge this idea: Scientists have created one type of gas often seen as an indicator of life in a chemistry lab with no organisms present. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-potential-indicators-life-planets-lab.html Astrobiology Mon, 23 Sep 2024 16:58:03 EDT news646329481 If there really are advanced alien civilizations out there, you'd think they'd be easy to find. A truly powerful alien race would stride like gods among the cosmos, creating star-sized or galaxy-sized feats of engineering. So rather than analyzing exoplanet spectra or listening for faint radio messages, why not look for the remnants of celestial builds, something too large and unusual to occur naturally? https://phys.org/news/2024-09-dyson-spheres-theyre-hotdogs.html Astrobiology Mon, 23 Sep 2024 15:35:02 EDT news646324501 Earth's average global temperatures have been steadily increasing since the Industrial Revolution. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA), Earth has been heating up at a rate of 0.06°C (0.11°F) per decade since 1850—or about 1.11°C (2°F) in total. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-advanced-civilizations-overheat-planets-years.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Mon, 23 Sep 2024 12:15:04 EDT news646312501 Although most potentially habitable worlds orbit red dwarf stars, we know larger and brighter stars can harbor life. One yellow dwarf star, for example, is known to have a planet teaming with life, perhaps even intelligent life. But how large and bright can a star be and still have an inhabited world? That is the question addressed in a recent article in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-stars-hotter-sun-life.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Mon, 23 Sep 2024 12:13:03 EDT news646312381 Most of the exoplanets we've discovered orbit red dwarf stars. This isn't because red dwarfs are somehow special, simply that they are common. About 75% of the stars in the Milky Way are red dwarfs, so you would expect red dwarf planets to be the most abundant. This also means that most habitable worlds are going to orbit these small, cool stars, and that has some significant consequences for our search for life. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-exoplanets-atmospheres.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Fri, 20 Sep 2024 13:50:01 EDT news646053775