Related papers: Evidence for Abiotic Dimethyl Sulfide in Cometary …
The flux of cosmic-ray high-energy positrons has recently been measured by AMS with unprecedented precision. This flux is well above the expectation from secondary positrons made by the observed fluxes of nuclear cosmic rays impinging on…
Exoplanet Proxima b will be an important laboratory for the search for extraterrestrial life for the decades ahead. Here we discuss the prospects of detecting carbon dioxide at 15 um using a spectral filtering technique with the Medium…
The critical first step in the search for life on exoplanets over the next decade is to determine whether rocky planets transiting small M-dwarf stars possess atmospheres and, if so, what processes sculpt them over time. Because of its…
VHS 1256 b was the first planetary-mass companion to be observed with the James Webb Space Telescope's Mid-Infrared Instrument (JWST/MIRI) using the Medium-Resolution Spectrometer (MRS). The MRS provides high-quality integral-field spectral…
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will measure exoplanet transmission and eclipse spectroscopy at un-precedented precisions to better understand planet structure, dynamics, chemistry and formation. These are essential tools on the march…
The search for life outside of the Solar System should not be restricted to exclusively planetary bodies; large moons of extrasolar planets may also be common habitable environments throughout the Galaxy. Extrasolar moons, or exomoons, may…
The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS), to be installed on the International Space Station, will provide data on cosmic radiations in a large energy range. The main physics goals in the astroparticle domain are the antimatter and the dark…
COSIMA (COmetary Secondary Ion Mass Analyser) is a time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometer (TOF-SIMS) on board the Rosetta space mission. COSIMA has been designed to measure the composition of cometary dust grains. It has a mass…
With its expanded wavelength coverage and increased precision compared to previous space-based observatories, JWST provides the opportunity to revisit benchmark planets and view them in a new light. Here, we conduct an in-depth study of the…
The origin of organic compounds detected in meteorites and comets, some of which could serve as precursors of life on Earth, still remains an open question. The aim of the present study is to make one more step in revealing the nature and…
Cometary outbursts offer a valuable window into the composition of comet nuclei with their forceful ejection of dust and volatiles in explosive events, revealing the interior components of the comet. Understanding how different types of…
The Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) aims to characterize habitable exoplanets in search of signs of life. However, detectable life may be rare, either because abiogenesis is intrinsically contingent and unlikely, or because biospheres…
The abundances of deuterated molecules with respect to their main isotopologue counterparts have been determined to be orders of magnitude higher than expected from the cosmic abundance of deuterium relative to hydrogen. The increasing…
Gaseous and dust debris disks around white dwarfs (WDs) are formed from tidally disrupted planetary bodies. This offers an opportunity to determine the composition of exoplanetary material by measuring element abundances in the accreting…
The study of the atmosphere of exoplanets orbiting white dwarfs is a largely unexplored field. With WD\,0806-661\,b, we present the first deep dive into the atmospheric physics and chemistry of a cold exoplanet around a white dwarf. We…
Studying the environments of dusty star-forming galaxies (DSFGs) provides insight into whether these luminous systems are reliable signposts of large-scale overdensities. Evidence suggests that individual DSFGs can trace overdense…
Several measurements, including the data from the laser spectrometer in the Sample Analysis at Mars instrument suite on the Curiosity Rover in Gale crater, have measured seasonal variations in atmospheric methane at the 0.7 ppbv (parts per…
Chemical disequilibrium in exoplanetary atmospheres (detectable with remote spectroscopy) can indicate life. The modern Earth's atmosphere-ocean system has a much larger chemical disequilibrium than other solar system planets with…
The newly operational JWST offers the potential to study the atmospheres of distant worlds with precision that has not been achieved before. One of the first exoplanets observed by JWST in the summer of 2022 was WASP-96 b, a hot-Saturn…
How can scientists conclude with high confidence that an exoplanet hosts life? As telescopes come on line over the next 20 years that can directly observe photons from terrestrial exoplanets, this question will dictate the activities of…