• Probing the Protostellar Envelope around L1157: the Dust and Gas Connection, astro-ph
• Hot Jupiters and the evolution of stellar angular momentum, astro-ph
• A substellar component orbiting the F-star 30 Ari B, astro-ph
• News from the CoRoT Space Mission, astro-ph

Posted by Keith Cowing at 8:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

• Search for extraterrestrial life gains momentum around the world, Washington post
• Formation and evolution of planetary systems: the impact of high angular resolution optical techniques, astro-ph
• Multi-band transit observations of the TrES-2b exoplanet, astro-ph

Posted by Keith Cowing at 10:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 7-8, 2010 (Thursday 1:00-5:15pm and Friday 8:30am-12:00noon)
Marriott Wardman Park, Washington DC

Scientists interested in exoplanet exploration from space-based platforms are encouraged to attend the upcoming meeting of the Exoplanet Exploration Program Analysis Group (ExoPAG). You can review the agenda from the Exoplanet Exploration Program (ExEP) website listed below. Note that you do not need to register for the AAS in order to attend; it's at the same location, but is a separate meeting.

The kickoff meeting for NASA's ExoPAG will be held Thursday afternoon/Friday morning, Jan. 7-8, directly following the 215th American Astronomical Society meeting in Washington DC. The ExoPAG is established to provide a conduit for community input into the development and execution of NASA's Exoplanet Exploration Program. It is designed to serve as a community-based, interdisciplinary forum for analysis in support of Exoplanet exploration objectives and of their implications for architecture planning and activity prioritization and for future exploration. The ExoPAG will provide its inputs and the results of its analyses to NASA through regular reports to the Astrophysics Subcommittee of the NASA Advisory Council. ExoPAG membership is free and open to all members of the scientific community with an interest in the detection and characterization of planets and planetary systems around other stars.

Topics for discussion include: 1) What information do we need to know in order to characterize an exoplanet, and what can be done from the ground? 2) What is the impact of zodiacal and exozodiacal dust on direct exoplanet observations, and what can be done to improve our knowledge of exozodis? 3) What do we need to know about planetary system architectures, and how can we obtain this information? 4) What can be learned about exoplanets from the ground using proposed extremely large telescopes? Time will also be reserved for a general discussion of future priorities for extrasolar planets research. All ExoPAG meetings are open to the community. The meeting will end around midday on Friday, Jan. 8.

Information about ExoPAG 1 and the ExoPAG in general is available on the web at http://exep.jpl.nasa.gov/ExoPAG. Questions and comments can be sent by email to NASA-ExoPAG@nasa.gov.

Posted by Keith Cowing at 9:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

• Avatar's Moon Pandora Could Be Real, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
• Waterworld Discovered Transiting a Nearby Star, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
• Glint on Sunlight Confirms Liquid in Northern Lake District of Titan, NASA
• A Framework for Quantifying the Degeneracies of Exoplanet Interior Compositions, astro-ph
• A Search for Asteroids, Moons, and Rings Orbiting White Dwarfs, astro-ph
• Dust Properties of Protoplanetary Disks in the Taurus-Auriga Star Forming Region from Millimeter Wavelengths, astro-ph
• Characterizing Habitable Exo-Moons, astro-ph

Posted by Keith Cowing at 10:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

• Planet formation in binary systems: A separation-dependent mechanism?, astro-ph
• Modeling the Formation of Giant Planet Cores I: Evaluating Key Processes, astro-ph
• The HARPS search for southern extrasolar planets XXI. Three new giant planets orbiting the metal-poor stars HD5388, HD181720, and HD190984, astro-ph
• A super-Earth transiting a nearby low-mass star, astro-ph

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

• A Super-Earth Orbiting the Nearby Sun-like Star HD 1461, astro-ph
• On the Fundamental Mass-Period Functions of Extrasolar Planets, astro-ph
• A Super-Earth and two Neptunes Orbiting the Nearby Sun-like star 61 Virginis, astro-ph
• ASTEP South: An Antarctic Search for Transiting ExoPlanets around the celestial South pole, astro-ph
• A long-period planet orbiting a nearby Sun-like star, astro-ph

Posted by Keith Cowing at 10:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

• Tidal Constraints on Planetary Habitability, astro-ph
• Studying the atmosphere of the exoplanet HAT-P-7b via secondary eclipse measurements with EPOXI, Spitzer and Kepler, astro-ph
• Thermal Tides in Fluid Extrasolar Planets, astro-ph
• Response to "Concerning Thermal Tides on Hot Jupiters" (Goodman 2009; arXiv: 0901.3279), astro-ph

Posted by Keith Cowing at 10:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Taellberg, Sweden - June 14-18, 2010.
Registration Deadline: May 1, 2010
Abstract submission Deadline: February 28, 2010

Conference Poster: http://www.abgradcon2010.org/attachments/049_abgradcon2010.pdf

In 2010, AbGradCon, the foremost astrobiology meeting for early-career researchers, will be held in Europe for the first time in its history. Graduate students and early-career postdocs from all over the world will come together to present their research in an informal environment, to learn of the latest developments in astrobiology, to network, and to forge new collaborations. The meeting will comprise oral and poster presentations, half-day workshops and a one-day field trip to geologically instructive sites in the astrobiologically interesting Siljan impact crater. Attendees are encouraged from the very wide range of subjects pertinent to astrobiology. Financial assistance will be available to invited attendees.

Further information is available at the conference website: http://www.abgradcon2010.org

[source: NAI Newsletter]

Posted by Keith Cowing at 5:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NASA astrobiologists studying the origin of life have reproduced uracil, a key component of RNA, in the laboratory. They discovered that an ice sample containing pyrimidines exposed to ultraviolet radiation under space-like conditions produces this essential ingredient of life. The study appears in the September issue of Astrobiology.

"We have demonstrated for the first time that we can make uracil, a component of RNA, non-biologically in a laboratory under conditions found in space," said Michel Nuevo, research scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center. "We are showing that these laboratory processes, which simulate occurrences in outer space, can make a fundamental building block used by living organisms on Earth."

[Source: NAI Newsletter]

Posted by Keith Cowing at 5:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Daniel Glavin has been selected by the international Meteoritical Society as the recipient of the 2010 Nier Prize. The prestigious Nier Prize is awarded to young scientists performing valuable research in fields related to meteoritics and planetary science.

Dr. Glavin was presented with the prize for his work on extraterrestrial organic chemistry. By examining carbonaceous meteorites, Glavin and his team have made important contributions toward understanding why life uses only left-handed versions of amino acids. Molecules delivered to Earth in meteorites may have played a role in life's eventual bias toward molecules of a specific orientation. The work was recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

For more information: http://www.meteoriticalsociety.org/news_display.cfm?code=news_intro&itemID=49

[Source: NAI Newsletter]

Posted by Keith Cowing at 3:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Eric Boyd of the Montana State University Astrobiology Biogeocatalysis Research Center (MSUABRC) recently led an expedition to Robertson Glacier to examine the microbiology and geochemistry of subglacial environments as it applies to Mars exploration. The field expedition also involved researchers John Peters, director of MSUABRC, Mark Skidmore (MSU), and Matt Urschel (MSU); Everett Shock and Jeff Havig of the Arizona State University Follow the Elements team, and Kevin Hand of the Jet Propulsion Lab Icy Worlds team.

The primary goal of the trip was to quantify the abundance and activity of methanogenic archaea in the Robertson Glacier subglacial environment. Methanogenic archaea produce roughly 90% of the methane gas present in Earth's atmosphere. Large plumes of methane gas, most likely originating from the subsurface, were recently observed in the atmosphere of Mars. The outstanding question is whether or not the methane gas in the Martian atmosphere is of biological origin. Subsurface methane production on Mars, coupled with the recent discovery of midlatitude subsurface ice and glacial ice on Mars, frames subglacial environments on Earth as relevant sites for examining methanogenic activity as it relates to the potential activity and detection of life on Mars.

Boyd assembled this team of acclaimed researches to develop an integrated picture of what a methaneproducing icy environment on Earth looks like, for use in identifying something similar on another planet. Biologists Boyd, Peters, and Urschel examined the microbiology of the subglacial sediments, while glaciologist Skidmore investigated mineral weathering and hydrological processes in the subglacial environment. Whereas geochemists Shock and Havig were focused on quantifying various isotopic and geochemical species in the subglacial meltwaters for use in redox and thermodynamic predictions, planetary scientist Hand examined the surface of the glacier using a variety of spectroscopic instruments.

Each day of the expedition included a five mile pack in and out, ending with dinner and discussion of the days findings at the University of Calgary Biogeosciences Institute field station. "It is not often that you can assemble a team of world renowned scientists and get them into the field at the same time to collect coordinated datasets. Perhaps more important is the numerous stimulating and interdisciplinary discussions that were had while on the trail, at the terminus of the glacier, or over dinner at night. It is not difficult to imagine how such experiences in the field generate scientific excitement and promote new ideas," Boyd says. The group has already begun organizing next July's trip back to Robertson Glacier.

[Source: NAI Newsletter]

Posted by Keith Cowing at 3:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The NAI Research Scholarship Program offers research-related travel support for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. Applicants are encouraged to use these resources to circulate among two or more NAI Teams, or participating institutions of the NAI, however any travel that is critical for the applicant's research will be considered. There are two award cycles per year with deadlines of April 1 and October 1.

The NAI has selected the following students and postdoctoral fellows for awards in this cycle:

Mark Claire, University of Washington
Travel to Penn State University for collaboration with Jim Kasting
Advisors: Vikki Meadows, Jim Kasting

Noah Planavsky, University of California, Riverside
Travel to Northwestern Ontario in Spring 2010
Graduate Advisor: Tim Lyons

Dominic Papineau, Carnegie Institution of Washington
Travel to University of Hawaii to work with Gary Huss
Advisor: Marilyn Fogel

Meredith Perry, Pennsylvania State University
Travel to the Mojave Desert to examine Precambrian stromatolites
Advisor: Jane Dmochowski

For more information: http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/nai/funding/nai-research-scholarships

[Source: NAI Newsletter]

Posted by Keith Cowing at 3:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

• Tidally Heated Terrestrial Exoplanets: Viscoelastic Response Models, astro-ph
• Giant Planets, astro-ph
• Modelling circumstellar discs with 3D radiation hydrodynamics, astro-ph
• Signatures of resonant terrestrial planets in long-period systems, astro-ph
• Detectability of extrasolar moons as gravitational microlenses, astro-ph

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

Established in 2006, the School of Earth and Space Exploration (SESE) is the focal point for earth and space science and engineering at Arizona State University, one of the largest and fastest growing institutions of higher learning in the United States. An essential part of the SESE mission is an effective integration of disciplines such as astrophysics, biogeochemistry, geology, geophysics, hydrology and engineering for scientific exploration.

Over the next two years, the School will be hiring a large number of faculty - at a variety of ranks - in order to build its capacity for transdisciplinary research and education in earth and space science and engineering. Several of these positions are of direct relevance to astrobiology, an area of longstanding interest at ASU. Faculty hired into these positions will have the opportunity to join the ASU Astrobiology Team.

Our hiring priorities are:

* Atmospheric and Climate Sciences
* Environmental Sensor Networks
* Extrasolar Planet Studies
* Molecular Geobiology
* Planetary Atmospheres
* Planetary Surface Processes
* Observational Cosmology
* Instrumentation Development

Application Deadline: December 15, 2009

For more information: http://sese.asu.edu/opportunities

Posted by Keith Cowing at 5:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

• Empirical Constraints on the Oblateness of an Exoplanet, astro-ph
• Short-duration lensing events: I. wide-orbit planets? free-floating low-mass objects? or high-velocity stars?, astro-ph
• Parent Stars of Extrasolar Planets. X. Lithium Abundances and vsini Revisited, astro-ph
• Radii of Rapidly-Rotating Stars, with Application to Transiting-Planet Hosts , astro-ph
• Protoplanetary disks of TTauri binaries in Orion: Prospects for planet formation, astro-ph
• Forming Planet Systems With N-Body Simulations I. Model and Statistics Comparing to Observations, astro-ph

Posted by Keith Cowing at 12:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Planets, Life, and the Universe Astrobiology Lecture Series is supported by the NASA Astrobiology Institute, the Space Telescope Science Institute, the Space Studies Initiative and the Department of Biology of The Johns Hopkins University.

Upcoming Lectures:

Jamie Elsila Cook (GSFC/Goddard Center for Astrobiology), "Cometary Amino Acids from the STARDUST Mission" Dec 4, 2009, 12:00p - 2:30pm EST

Stephen Mojzsis (University of Colorado), "Habitability of the Hadean Earth" Jan 8, 2010, 12:00pm - 2:30pm EST

More information and webcast information is available at http://astrobiology.stsci.edu/

Posted by Keith Cowing at 5:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

• CoRoT-7 b: Super-Earth or Super-Io?, astro-ph
• On the existence of energetic atoms in the upper atmosphere of exoplanet HD209458b, astro-ph
• Chemical Abundances in the Externally Polluted White Dwarf GD 40: Evidence of a Rocky Extrasolar Minor Planet, astro-ph

Posted by Keith Cowing at 2:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Researchers from the Carnegie Institution of Washington and their colleagues have published a paper entitled "The Carnegie Astrometric Planet Search Program," in Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. The paper describes an astrometric search for gas giant planets and brown dwarfs orbiting nearby low-mass dwarf stars, using the 2.5 m du Pont Telescope at the Las Campanas Observatory in Chile.

[Source: NAI Newsletter]

Posted by Keith Cowing at 3:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

• Protoplanetary migration in turbulent isothermal disks, astro-ph
• Nightside Pollution of Exoplanet Transit Depths, astro-ph
• A Cold Neptune-Mass Planet OGLE-2007-BLG-368Lb: Cold Neptunes Are Common, astro-ph
• Giant planet formation in stellar clusters: the effects of stellar fly-bys, astro-ph
• The LAOG-Planet Imaging Surveys, astro-ph

Posted by Keith Cowing at 2:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

• Retired A Stars and Their Companions. III. Comparing the Mass-Period Distributions of Planets Around A-Type Stars and Sun-Like Stars, astro-ph
• The Interior Structure, Composition, and Evolution of Giant Planets, astro-ph
• CARMENES: Calar Alto high-Resolution search for M dwarfs with Exo-earths with a Near-infrared Echelle Spectrograph, astro-ph
• Warm gas phase chemistry as possible origin of high HDO/H2O ratios in hot and dense gases: application to inner protoplanetary discs, astro-ph

Posted by Keith Cowing at 5:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Loren Williams, "Where Did Protein Come From?"

Date/Time: Tuesday December 8, 2009 2:30PM Pacific

Speaker: Loren Williams (Georgia Institute of Technology)

Abstract: Ribosomes are RNA-based macromolecular machines responsible for the synthesis of all proteins in all living organisms. Ribosomes are the most ancient of life's macromolecules and are our most direct link to the deep evolutionary past, beyond the base of the phyologenetic tree. The recent availability of high resolution 3D structures of ribosomes provides us with new methods of detection and inference. We will discuss methods for resurrection and biochemical characterization of aboriginal ribosomes.

For more information and participation instructions: http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/nai/seminars/detail/166

[Source: NAI Newsletter]

Posted by Keith Cowing at 3:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

• Retired A Stars and Their Companions. III. Comparing the Mass-Period Distributions of Planets Around A-Type Stars and Sun-Like Stars, astro-ph
• The Interior Structure, Composition, and Evolution of Giant Planets, astro-ph
• CARMENES: Calar Alto high-Resolution search for M dwarfs with Exo-earths with a Near-infrared Echelle Spectrograph, astro-ph
• Warm gas phase chemistry as possible origin of high HDO/H2O ratios in hot and dense gases: application to inner protoplanetary discs, astro-ph

Posted by Keith Cowing at 12:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

• Detecting and characterizing extrasolar planetary systems with astrometry: review from the Blue Dots astrometry working group, astro-ph
• Checking Stability Of Planet Orbits In Multiple-planet Systems, astro-ph

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

Appearing in the Nov. 27, 2009, issue (Vol. 284, No. 48) of JBC: A key question in the origin of biological molecules like RNA and DNA is how they first came together billions of years ago from simple precursors. Now, in a study appearing in this week's JBC, researchers in Italy have reconstructed one of the earliest evolutionary steps yet: generating long chains of RNA from individual subunits using nothing but warm water.

Many researchers believe that RNA was one of the first biological molecules present, before DNA and proteins; however, there has been little success in recreating the formation on RNA from simple "prebiotic" molecules that likely were present on primordial earth billions of years ago.
Now, Ernesto Di Mauro and colleagues found that ancient molecules called cyclic nucleotides can merge together in water and form polymers over 100 nucleotides long in water ranging from 40-90 *C -similar to water temperatures on ancient Earth.

Cyclic nucleotides like cyclic-AMP are very similar to the nucleotides that make up individual pieces of DNA or RNA (A, T, G and C), except that they form an extra chemical bond and assume a ring-shaped structure. That extra bond makes cyclic nucleotides more reactive, though, and thus they were able to join together into long chains at a decent rate (about 200 hours to reach 100 nucleotides long).
This finding is exciting as cyclic nucleotides themselves can be easily formed from simple chemicals like formamide, thus making them plausible prebiotic compounds present during primordial times. Thus, this study may be revealing how the first bits of genetic information were created.

###

From the JBC article: Generation of Long RNA Chains in Water" by Giovanna Costanzo, Samanta Pino, Fabiana Ciciriello and Ernesto Di Mauro
Article link: http://www.jbc.org/content/early/2009/10/02/jbc.M109.041905
Corresponding Authors: Ernesto Di Mauro, Department of Genetics and Molecular Biology, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy; Tel: +39.06.49912880, E-mail: Ernesto.dimauro@uniroma1.it

The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology is a nonprofit scientific and educational organization with over 11,900 members in the United States and internationally. Most members teach and conduct research at colleges and universities. Others conduct research in various government laboratories, nonprofit research institutions and industry. The Society's student members attend undergraduate or graduate institutions.

Founded in 1906, the Society is based in Bethesda, Maryland, on the campus of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology. The Society's purpose is to advance the science of biochemistry and molecular biology through publication of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, the Journal of Lipid Research, and Molecular and Cellular Proteomics, organization of scientific meetings, advocacy for funding of basic research and education, support of science education at all levels, and promoting the diversity of individuals entering the scientific work force.
For more information about ASBMB, see the Society's Web site at www.asbmb.org.

Contact: Nick Zagorski
nzagorski@asbmb.org
301-634-7366
American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Posted by Keith Cowing at 8:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

• The CRIRES Search for Planets Around the Lowest-Mass Stars. II. No Giant Planet Orbiting VB10, astro-ph
• The effect of aqueous alteration and metamorphism in the survival of presolar silicate grains in chondrites, astro-ph

Posted by Keith Cowing at 12:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

• Line-profile tomography of exoplanet transits I: The Doppler shadow of HD 189733b, astro-ph
• Candidate Coronagraphic Detections of Protoplanetary Disks around Four Young Stars, astro-ph
• Colors of a Second Earth: Estimating the fractional areas of ocean, land, and vegetation of Earth-like exoplanets, astro-ph
• Fast Inversion Method for Determination of Planetary Parameters from Transit Timing Variations, astro-ph

Posted by Keith Cowing at 12:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)