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October 31, 2006

Astrobiology News 31 October 2006

  • PAHs in Galaxies: their Properties and Evolution, arXiv.org
  • Binarity as a key factor in protoplanetary disk evolution: Spitzer disk census of the eta Chamaeleontis cluster, arXiv.org
  • The Possible Belts for Extrasolar Planetary Systems, arXiv.org

  • On the nature of clumps in debris disks, arXiv.org
  • Planet Formation with Migration, arXiv.org

    • Posted by Keith Cowing at 12:05 AM | | Comments (0)

    October 30, 2006

    Astrobiology News 30 October 2006

  • On the Formation of Brown Dwarfs, arXiv.org
  • ESO Large Programme 666 on OGLE transits: I. Accurate radius of the planets OGLE-TR-10b and OGLE-TR-56b with VLT deconvolution photometry, arXiv.org

    • Posted by Keith Cowing at 12:33 AM | | Comments (0)

    October 29, 2006

    Astrobiology News 29 October 2006

  • The Astrobiology Primer: An Outline of General Knowledge - Version 1, 2006, Astrobiology, Astrobiology
  • Protection of "Special Regions" on Mars is Aim of NASA-Sponsored Study Results Described in Astrobiology, Astrobiology

  • Was there water on Mars long enough for the origination of life?, VA Tech

    • Posted by Keith Cowing at 5:21 PM | | Comments (0)

    October 27, 2006

    Astrobiology News 27 October 2006

  • NASA and SETI Explorers Search for Planetary Evolution Clues on Earth, NASA
  • Scientists' cell discovery unearths evolutionary clues, University of York

  • Anatomy of a Flaring Proto-Planetary Disk Around a Young Intermediate-Mass Star, Science
  • The Phase-Dependent Infrared Brightness of the Extrasolar Planet Andromedae b, Science
  • a-Hydroxy and a-Amino Acids Under Possible Hadean, Volcanic Origin-of-Life Conditions, Science

    • Posted by Keith Cowing at 12:16 PM | | Comments (0)

    October 26, 2006

    Astrobiology News 26 October 2006

  • Telescopes can tune in to alien TV, New Scientist
  • Space Radiation Threats To Astronauts Addressed in Federal Research Study, University of Colorado
  • Oldest complex organic molecules found in ancient fossils, Ohio State

  • Europe goes searching for rocky planets, ESA
  • The magnetic field of the planet-hosting star tau Bootis, arXiv.org

    • Posted by Keith Cowing at 7:03 AM | | Comments (0)

    October 25, 2006

    Astrobiology Science News 25 October 2006

  • Comments by NAS Space Studies Board Chair Lennard Fisk, NAS
  • How Safe is Travel to Mars?, NASA
  • New theory for mass extinctions, AGS

  • Data Analysis on the Extra-solar Planets Using Robust Clustering, arXiv.org
  • Rounding up the wanderers: optimizing coronagraphic searches for extrasolar planets, arXiv.org
  • Radio observations of comet 9P/Tempel 1 before and after Deep Impact, arXiv.org

    • Posted by Keith Cowing at 12:42 AM | | Comments (0)

    October 24, 2006

    Space Science Update

    Comments by NAS Space Studies Board Chair Lennard Fisk, NAS

    "There is consternation these days between the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and its external science community. In August, three senior science advisors were dismissed from the NASA Advisory Council (NAC). In the aftermath, the Administrator of NASA, Mike Griffin, through correspondence with the NAC and its science subcommittees and through a major speech at the Goddard Space Flight Center, clarified how NASA will manage its science program, and the role of the science community."

    - A Review of NASA's 2006 Draft Science Plan: Letter Report, NAS

    - Science and NASA - Speech by NASA Administrator Michael Griffin

    - 21 August 2006 Email from Mike Griffin to NASA Advisory Council Members

    - Memo From NASA Advisory Council Chair Schmitt Regarding 3 NAC Resignations

    - What Mike Griffin *Really* Thinks About NRC's Space Station Report

    "I've read the report, and there is not much good in it for us. Not surprising, however, coming from Len Fisk ... The kind of criticism we're receiving in connection with the ISS, in the report Trish references, needs to be addressed for ISS, and needs to be "headed off at the pass" for the Moon."

    Posted by Keith Cowing at 8:55 PM | | Comments (0)

    Astrobiology Science News 24 October 2006

  • NASA Spaceline 13 October 2006 Current Space Life Science Awareness
  • Viking landers may have found Martian life after all, New Scientist
  • The limitations on organic detection in Mars-like soils by thermal volatilization-gas chromatography-MS and their implications for the Viking results, PNAS

  • A Possible Correlation between the Gaseous Drag Strength and Resonant Planetesimals in Planetary Systems, arXiv.org
  • Previously unobserved water lines detected in the post-impact spectrum of Comet Tempel 1, arXiv.org
  • Dust accretion onto high-mass planets, arXiv.org

    • Posted by Keith Cowing at 1:02 PM | | Comments (0)

    October 22, 2006

    Astrobiology Science News 23 October 2006

  • Outcome of Six Candidate Transiting Planets from a TrES Field in Andromeda, arXiv.org
  • New Distant Companions to Known Nearby Stars. II. Faint companions of Hipparcos stars and the frequency of wide binary systems, arXiv.org

  • Time series photometry of the dwarf planet ERIS (2003 UB313), arXiv.org
  • Properties of planets in binary systems. The role of binary separation, arXiv.org
  • Plausibility of the planet-engulfing scenario for V838 Mon, arXiv.org

    • Posted by Keith Cowing at 11:32 PM | | Comments (0)

    October 21, 2006

    Astrobiology Science News 21 October 2006

  • New biochip helps study living cells, may speed drug development, Purdue University
  • Long-Term Sustainability of a High-Energy, Low-Diversity Crustal Biome, Science
  • Bacteria that use radiated water as food, Indiana University

  • Otherworldly bacteria discovered two miles down, Carnegie Institution
  • Two miles underground, strange bacteria are found thriving, Princeton University

    • Posted by Keith Cowing at 12:08 AM | | Comments (0)

    October 20, 2006

    Astrobiology Science News 20 October 2006

  • University Students are Helping NASA with GeneSat Mission, NASA
  • Precise Radius Estimates for the Exoplanets WASP-1b and WASP-2b, arXiv.org
  • Mars May Be A Cozy Place for Hardy Microbes, STSCI

    • Posted by Keith Cowing at 12:03 AM | | Comments (0)

    October 19, 2006

    Astrobiology Science News 19 October 2006

  • First Directly Imaged Brown Dwarf Companion to an Exoplanet Host Star, ESO
  • Methane Devourer Discovered in the Arctic, Max Planck Society
  • Director's Corner - Message from NASA Astrobiology Institute Director Carl Pilcher

  • Detectability of planets in wide binaries by ground-based relative astrometry with AO, arXiv.org
  • The Planetary Mass Companion 2MASS1207-3932 B: Temperature, Mass and Evidence for an Edge-On Disk, arXiv.org
  • Photometric follow-up of the transiting planet around WASP-1, arXiv.org

    • Posted by Keith Cowing at 2:15 PM | | Comments (0)

    Astrobiology Update

    Director's Corner - Message from NASA Astrobiology Institute Director Carl Pilcher, NAI

    "The clearest expression that astrobiology doesn't "measure up" comes from the Administrator of NASA himself, Mike Griffin. Mike has testified before Congress that he does not see astrobiology as having the same importance as other components of the NASA science portfolio. He's also been quoted as saying that it has less intrinsic subject matter, is less advanced, and that its questions are more vague. Shortly before I left NASA Headquarters I had the opportunity to have an "elevator conversation" with Mike about some of his perceptions about astrobiology."

    Posted by Keith Cowing at 1:26 AM | | Comments (0)

    University of Washington Seminar: A (not so) Brief History of Carbon on Earth

    Join us for the next University of Washington Astrobiology Seminar! George Shaw of Union College will be speaking on the topic "A (not so) Brief History of Carbon on Earth." Date/Time: Tuesday, October 24, 2:30PM PDT (11:30am HT/3:30pm MDT/4:30pm CDT/5:30pm EDT)

    Abstract: A (not so) Brief History of Carbon on Earth

    It is widely agreed that carbon first arrived on Earth in a reduced form, as found in almost all meteorites, and was abiotic in origin. For more than thirty years, the prevailing view has been that the carbon in Earth's early atmosphere (and near surface environment) was virtually all in the form of carbon dioxide, the oxidized chemical state found in volcanic gases that are thought to be the source of atmospheric carbon compounds resulting from degassing of Earth's interior.

    For about the same period of time there has also been broad agreement that a large fraction of the near-surface volatiles, including both water and carbon compounds, were degassed very early in Earth's history, implying a carbon dioxide rich early atmosphere. This has been thought by many to be a suitable explanation of the necessary enhanced greenhouse effect required to compensate for the early faint sun.

    On the other hand there are several lines of evidence strongly at odds with this model for the early atmosphere:

    1) Very early, Rubey pointed out the drastic geochemical and sedimentological consequences of a large CO2-rich atmosphere, including both severe weathering effects and consequent massive deposition of carbonate rocks, for which there is little or no evidence in the early Archean.

    2) The delay in oxygenation of the atmosphere following the advent of oxygenic photosynthesis in cyanobacteria, as early as 2.8 BYBP (perhaps even earlier) is a long recognized (if often ignored) problem. Analysis of various sinks and nutrient constraints does not eliminate this problem.

    3) The record of carbon isotopes in sediments points to a longstanding (at least since ca. 3.5 BYBP) balance between carbonate carbon and biogenic (fixed organic) carbon at a ratio of about 4 to 1. This implies substantial (and very early) fixation of large amounts of biogenic carbon and release of proportional amounts of free oxygen, which is inconsistent with geologic and isotopic evidence for an anoxic surface environment until ca. 2.1-2.3 BYBP.

    These problems could be solved if one could identify a reservoir to hold the degassed carbon and release it into the biosphere on a geologic time scale. The lack of residual early Archean carbonate sediments (or metasediments) from such a hypothetical reservoir speaks against carbonate as the reservoir substance. The likelihood of early degassing precludes a deeper (e.g. upper mantle) reservoir. The only remaining choice is a reduced carbon reservoir at or near the surface. This reservoir cannot be atmospheric methane (or other gaseous hydrocarbon) because photochemical reactions rapidly remove such compounds from the atmosphere.

    An early ocean with a high concentration of photochemically (and electrically) produced complex organic compounds solves all of these problems, with the added attraction that it is a favorable environment for the emergence of life. The oxidation of subducted organic rich sediments during upper mantle magmagenesis slowly provides CO2 to the surface environment, on a time scale consistent with the time scale for oxygenation of the surface environment by photosynthetic cyanobacteria, with the record of carbon isotopes in sedimentary rocks, and with the record of carbonate sedimentation.

    An early reduced carbon reservoir at/near Earth's surface follows directly from early degassing, under reducing conditions, of the original (and/or hydrogenated) meteoritic carbon compounds. The largely methane atmosphere so produced is short lived, but the photochemical products accumulate in the ocean and are continuously recycled into the atmosphere as methane by low temperature hydrothermal activity. This model provides a suitable source of the early (methane) enhanced greenhouse effect.

    For connection information and more, please visit http://nai.arc.nasa.gov/seminars/seminar_detail.cfm?ID=93 [Source: NAI Newsletter]

    Posted by Keith Cowing at 1:13 AM | | Comments (0)

    Astrobiology Special Session at the Geological Society of America Annual Meeting

    Andrey Bekker of the Geophysical Laboratory, and the NAI - Carnegie Institution of Washington Team and Ganqing Jiang from the Department of Geoscience, University of Nevada Las Vegas have organized a session at the upcoming Geological Society of America meeting in Philadelphia, October 22 - 25, 2006.

    The NAI is sponsoring travel expenses for student and early career speakers at this special session, T139, entitled, "Changes in ocean and atmospheric redox state and the evolution of life".
    For more information: http://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2006AM/finalprogram/session_18029.htm and http://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2006AM/finalprogram/session_18361.htm [Source: NAI Newsletter]

    Posted by Keith Cowing at 1:11 AM | | Comments (0)

    ROSES-06 Amendment 16: New proposal opportunity for IPY Education and Public Outreach

    With this amendment to ROSES-2006, NASA establishes a new program element in Appendix A.24 entitled "International Polar Year (IPY) Education and Public Outreach."

    This new program element solicits proposals to engage, inform, and inspire diverse public audiences by sharing our knowledge about polar science and its global connections during IPY and by communicating NASA's unique contributions to recent advances in Arctic and Antarctic research and climate science. A secondary objective is to extend the spirit of polar exploration and discovery to the poles of the Moon, Mars, and other planets of our solar system and to help attract and educate the next generation of scientists and engineers. This solicitation primarily seeks activities leveraging capabilities from existing projects or dissemination networks at zero or incremental cost for greater impact. Notices of Intent to propose are not requested, and proposals are due January 8, 2007.

    On or about October 10, 2006, Amendment No. 16 to the NASA Research Announcement "Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences (ROSES) 2006" (NNH06ZDA001N) will be posted on the NASA research opportunity homepage at http://nspires.nasaprs.com/ (select "Solicitations" then "Open Solicitations" then "NNH06ZDA001N").

    Questions may be addressed to Dr. Ming-Ying Wei, Earth Science Division, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC 20546-0001; Telephone: (202) 358-0771; Email: Ming-Ying.Wei-1@nasa.gov. [Source: NAI Newsletter]

    Posted by Keith Cowing at 1:10 AM | | Comments (0)

    The Habitability of Mars: Past and Present

    Tom McCollum of the University of Colorado, Boulder team has recently contributed a chapter titled "The Habitability of Mars: Past and Present" that appears in the book "Solar System Update", published this summer by Praxis Publishing. The chapter summarizes current thinking about current and past conditions on Mars that might allow life to exist there.

    For more information: http://www.praxis-publishing.co.uk/view.asp?id=230&search=home [Source: NAI Newsletter]

    Posted by Keith Cowing at 1:09 AM | | Comments (0)

    NAI and NSF Provide Joint Funding to Understand the Environment of the Earth More Than 2 Billion Years Ago

    The NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) are providing matching support towards the study of the ancient rock record of the early Earth, between 2.0 and 2.5 billion years ago. This period represents one of the critical transitions in the Earth's history as it reflects the emergence of the modern aerobic, or oxygen-rich Earth system.

    Various lines of evidence continue to indicate that this period witnessed the rise of oxygen in the atmosphere of the Earth, reflecting major changes in the evolution of life on the planet. This project with acquire fresh, i.e., not weathered by surface exposure, drill-core material from deep within the Russian Arctic.

    The NAI and NSF support will contribute to major funding from the International Continental Drilling Program, which will be led by investigators at the NAI Penn State University Team. [Source: NAI Newsletter]

    Posted by Keith Cowing at 1:08 AM | | Comments (0)

    October 18, 2006

    Astrobiology News 18 October 2006

  • Rare meteorite found in Kansas field, AP
  • Models of Polarized Light from Oceans and Atmospheres of Earth-like Extrasolar Planets, arXiv.org
  • The phase-dependent Infrared brightness of the extrasolar planet upsilon Andromedae b, arXiv.org

  • Asteroseismology of exoplanets host stars: the special case of iota Horologii (HD17051), arXiv.org
  • Asteroseismology of exoplanets-host stars: a link between the two scientific programmes of COROT, arXiv.org
  • Asteroseismology of exoplanets-host stars, arXiv.org
  • Spectropolarimetry and the study of circumstellar disks, arXiv.org

    • Posted by Keith Cowing at 12:09 AM | | Comments (0)

    October 17, 2006

    Saving Astrobiology

    SETI Institute to Announce New Astrobiology Center - The Carl Sagan Center for the Study of Life in the Universe

    "On Tuesday, October 17, the SETI Institute will unveil a new center to study life in the universe and a fund-raising strategy to counter NASA's proposed budget cuts for astrobiology research. From 10 to 11 a.m. at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, a distinguished panel of institute trustees and staff will announce the formation of the Carl Sagan Center for the Study of Life in the Universe. The center's activities will focus on astrobiology and be dedicated to the memory of planetary scientist and astronomer Carl Sagan. The panel will explain a new emphasis on fundraising from private sources to offset a proposed 50 percent budget cut by NASA for astrobiology research."

    Posted by Keith Cowing at 1:53 PM | | Comments (0)

    Astrobiology News 17 October 2006

  • NASA Spaceline 29 September 2006 Current Space Life Science Awareness
  • NASA Spaceline 22 September 2006 Current Space Life Science Awareness
  • CoRoT and the search for exoplanets. The Italian contribution, arXiv.org

  • Mars Express and the story of water on Mars, ESA
  • The Response of Atmospheric Chemistry on Earthlike Planets around F, G and K Stars to Small Variations in Orbital Distance, arXiv.org

    • Posted by Keith Cowing at 1:27 PM | | Comments (0)

    October 16, 2006

    Astrobiology News 16 October 2006

  • Eavesdropping on Radio Broadcasts from Galactic Civilizations with Upcoming Observatories for Redshifted 21cm Radiation, arXiv.org
  • Modeling Spitzer observations of VV Ser. I. The circumstellar disk of a UX Orionis star, arXiv.org

  • Correlation between the spatial distribution of the circumstellar disks and the massive stars in the open cluster NGC 6611. Compiled catalog and cluster parameters, arXiv.org
  • Radio recombination lines from the largest bound atoms in space, arXiv.org

    • Posted by Keith Cowing at 12:04 AM | | Comments (0)

    October 13, 2006

    Astrobiology News 13 October 2006

  • Interstellar Weather Report: Day and Night Temps Measured on an Extrasolar Planet, Carnegie Institution
  • NASA's Spitzer Sees Day and Night on Exotic World, NASA

  • Visible and Near-Infrared Spectrophotometry of the Deep Impact Ejecta of Comet 9P/Tempel 1, arXiv.org
  • Behavior of Apsidal Orientations in Planetary Systems, arXiv.org

    • Posted by Keith Cowing at 11:13 PM | | Comments (0)

    October 12, 2006

    Astrobiology News 12 October 2006

  • Using long-term transit timing to detect terrestrial planets, arXiv.org
  • On the formation of terrestrial planets in hot-Jupiter systems, arXiv.org

  • Multiplicity Study of exoplanet host stars: The HD3651AB system, arXiv.org
  • High resolution mid-Infrared imaging of dust disks structures around Herbig Ae stars with VISIR, arXiv.org

    • Posted by Keith Cowing at 1:36 AM | | Comments (0)

    October 9, 2006

    Communicating Exploration

    Exploration, Science, and Art: A Book Review of Terra Antarctica and Driving to Mars, SpaceRef

    "When it comes to exploration, there's nothing like being there. Yet at some point, all explorers need to tell others what they have seen - as well as find a way to understand and recall the experience themselves. Exploration is pointless if it is not shared.

    It is the process whereby explorers put new vistas and experiences into a context they can internalize - and then how these impressions are shared with others that fascinates author William Fox. In his two most recent books "Terra Antarctica" and "Driving to Mars" Fox recounts his own experiences - and those of others - at Earth's two poles."

    Posted by Keith Cowing at 2:26 PM | | Comments (0)

    Astrobiology News 9 October 2006

  • Hubble Observations Confirm that Planets Form from Disks Around Stars, NASA
  • The Extrasolar Planet epsilon Eridani b - Orbit and Mass, arXiv.org

  • A Long-Period Jupiter-Mass Planet Orbiting the Nearby M Dwarf GJ849, arXiv.org
  • Isotopic Abundances of Carbon and Oxygen in Oxygen-Rich Giant Stars, arXiv.org

    • Posted by Keith Cowing at 2:25 PM | | Comments (0)

    October 8, 2006

    Arctic Met Station Update

    This summer Miles Ecclestone of Trent University, returned to our camp next to Colour Lake to continue making improvements to the McGill Arctic Research Station (M.A.R.S.) as part of an infrastructure upgrade. During this time, I asked Miles to download the images from our Campbell Scientific met station’s camera which is pointed across part of the airstrip and part of Colour Lake. We now have daily images (most taken at 9am and again at 1pm) from 17 April 2006 to 17 August 2006. The video contains the stream of images at about 1 second each. My previous blog provides more details of the station and the camera we use.

    Posted by Dale Andersen at 10:54 AM | | Comments (0)

    October 7, 2006

    Astrobiology News 6 October 2006

  • A limit on the presence of Earth-mass planets around a Sun-like star, arXiv.org
  • New brown dwarfs in Upper Sco using UKIDSS Galactic Cluster Survey science verification data, arXiv.org

    • Posted by Keith Cowing at 12:23 AM | | Comments (0)

    October 5, 2006

    Astrobiology News 5 October 2006

  • Radius and Structure models for the First Super-Earth Planet, arXiv.org
  • The effect of Semi-Collisional Accretion on Planetary Spins, arXiv.org

  • Transiting extrasolar planetary candidates in the Galactic bulge, arXiv.org
  • Solar X-ray Flare Hazards on the Surface of Mars, arXiv.org

    • Posted by Keith Cowing at 12:22 AM | | Comments (0)

    October 4, 2006

    Astrobiology News 4 October 2006

  • Hubble Finds Extrasolar Planets Far Across Galaxy, NASA
  • Planets Prefer Safe Neighborhoods, Caltech

  • Midplane sedimentation of large solid bodies in turbulent protoplanetary discs, arXiv.org

    • Posted by Keith Cowing at 1:59 PM | | Comments (0)

    October 3, 2006

    Astrobiology News 3 October 2006

  • Abundant dust found in intergalactic space, arXiv.org
  • Dust coagulation in protoplanetary disks: porosity matters, arXiv.org

  • Warm SiO gas in molecular bullets associated with protostellar outflows, arXiv.org

    • Posted by Keith Cowing at 11:35 AM | | Comments (0)

    October 2, 2006

    Astrobiology News 2 October 2006

  • A Re-appraisal of the Habitability of Planets Around M Dwarf Stars, arXiv.org
  • Dust filtration at gap edges: Implications for the spectral energy distributions of discs with embedded planets, arXiv.org

  • The Chemical Compositions of Stars with Planets: A Review, arXiv.org

    • Posted by Keith Cowing at 10:57 AM | | Comments (0)

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