NASA Astrobiology

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A volcanically active planet is shown in closeup at the left side of the image with glowing eruptions and lines of lava on the surface. To the right and in the distance is a faint blue glowing ball representing the more massive planet in the system.

Sixteen frames from Voyager 1's flyby of Jupiter in 1979 were merged to create this image. Jupiter's Great Red Spot is visible in the center. Jupiter's moon Europa can be seen in the foreground at the bottom left of the image.

The frame is a horizontal rainbow of color on a grid. Shadows of molecules can be seen through the light as well as the jagged peaks and troughs of spectral lines.

Fizzy Super Earths and Lava Worlds“Fizzy Super-Earths: Impacts of Magma Composition on the Bulk Density and Structure of Lava Worlds.” in The Astrophysical Journal.01/03

Identifying Hydrothermal Activity on Icy Ocean Worlds“Ethene-ethanol ratios as potential indicators of hydrothermal activity at Enceladus, Europa, and other icy ocean worlds.” In Icarus.02/03

NASA Raman Spectroscopic Database"The NASA Raman spectroscopic database: Ramdb version 1.00.” In Icarus.03/03

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June 2025Mantle-like Sr isotopes in a Sturtian cap carbonate in Oman

Macdonald, F. A., Renger, E., Tasistro-Hart, A. R., Byerly, B. L., Jackson, M. G., Bergmann, K. D., … Crockford, P. W. (2025). Mantle-like Sr isotopes in a Sturtian cap carbonate in Oman. Geology, 53(9), 753–756. doi:10.1130/g53385.1

Giant Outer Transiting Exoplanet Mass (GOT ‘EM) Survey. VI. Confirmation of a Long-period Giant Planet Discovered with a Single TESS Transit

Essack, Z., Dragomir, D., Dalba, P. A., Battley, M. P., Ciardi, D. R., Collins, K. A., … Ziegler, M. (2025). Giant Outer Transiting Exoplanet Mass (GOT ‘EM) Survey. VI. Confirmation of a Long-period Giant Planet Discovered with a Single TESS Transit. The Astronomical Journal, 170(1), 41. doi:10.3847/1538-3881/add88b

Biosignatures of diverse eukaryotic life from a Snowball Earth analogue environment in Antarctica

Husain, F., Millar, J. L., Jungblut, A. D., Hawes, I., Evans, T. W., & Summons, R. E. (2025). Biosignatures of diverse eukaryotic life from a Snowball Earth analogue environment in Antarctica. Nature Communications, 16(1), None. doi:10.1038/s41467-025-60713-5

TOI-1846 b: A super-Earth in the radius valley orbiting a nearby M dwarf

Soubkiou, A., Barkaoui, K., Benkhaldoun, Z., Ghachoui, M., Chouqar, J., V Rackham, B., … Winn, J. (2025). TOI-1846 b: A super-Earth in the radius valley orbiting a nearby M dwarf. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. doi:10.1093/mnras/staf1030

A growth model for the highly abundant Ediacaran tubular organism Funisia dorothea

Surprenant, R.L., Droser, M.L. (2025) A growth model for the highly abundant Ediacaran tubular organism Funisia dorothea. Journal of Paleontology, 1-13. doi:10.1017/jpa.2025.10095

May 2025A Catalytic Pathway for the Formation of Cyanobenzene in Nitrogen-rich Environments and the Spectroscopy of the Reactive Intermediates

Esposito, V. J., Alessandrini, S., Dubois, D., & Fortenberry, R. C. (2025). A Catalytic Pathway for the Formation of Cyanobenzene in Nitrogen-rich Environments and the Spectroscopy of the Reactive Intermediates. The Planetary Science Journal, 6(5), 113. doi:10.3847/psj/adcf17

Continental Orientation and the Climate of Land-dominated, Arid Planets

Glaser, D. M., Aleinov, I., Leboissetier, A., & Way, M. J. (2025). Continental Orientation and the Climate of Land-dominated, Arid Planets. The Planetary Science Journal, 6(5), 111. doi:10.3847/psj/adccb6

TOI-6478 b: a cold underdense Neptune transiting a fully convective M dwarf from the thick disc

Scott, M. G., Triaud, A. H. M. J., Barkaoui, K., Sebastian, D., Burgasser, A. J., Collins, K. A., … Watanabe, D. (2025). TOI-6478 b: a cold underdense Neptune transiting a fully convective M dwarf from the thick disc. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 540(2), 1909–1927. doi:10.1093/mnras/staf684

Genome sequence and methylome profile of Natrinema pallidum strain NMX15-1, a halophilic archaeon, from Permian Period halite, Carlsbad, New Mexico

Khoshnaw, A., Toledo Akiti, B., Vincze, T., DasSarma, P., Fomenkov, A., Powers, D. W., Roberts, R. J., DasSarma, S. (2025) Genome sequence and methylome profile of Natrinema pallidum strain NMX15-1, a halophilic archaeon, from Permian Period halite, Carlsbad, New Mexico. Microbiology Resource Announcements. doi: 10.1128/mra.01287-24

Membrane-Spanning Molecular Lengths as an Agnostic Biosignature

Malaska, M. J., Sandström, H., Hofmann, A. E., Hodyss, R., Rensmo, L., van der Meulen, M., Rahm, M., Cable, M. L., & Lunine, J.I. (2025) Membrane-Spanning Molecular Lengths as an Agnostic Biosignature. Astrobiology, 25(5). doi:10.1089/ast.2024.0125

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