Latest Astrobiology Stories
PASADENA, Calif., Nov. 15, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Observations of wind patterns and natural radiation patterns on Mars by NASA's Curiosity rover are helping scientists better understand the environment on the Red Planet's surface. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO ) Researchers using the car-sized mobile laboratory have identified transient whirlwinds, mapped winds in relation to slopes, tracked daily and seasonal changes in air pressure, and...
Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online New research published in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters shows that water once existed on Mars that was sufficiently warm enough to support life. University of Leicester and The Open University researchers determined that water temperatures on Mars ranged from 122 degrees Fahrenheit to 302 degrees Fahrenheit. Scientists found that microbes can live in water with similar temperatures on earth in the volcanic...
Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online NASA announced on Thursday during a teleconference that its Curiosity rover has experienced its first whirlwind on Mars. Although the rover did not snap a photo of the whirlwind, Curiosity's Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (REMS) was able to help detect the dust devil. REMS detected brief dips in air pressure, along with a change in wind direction, leading NASA scientists to determine that there was a whirlwind passing by...
Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online As the Kepler Space Telescope's prime mission comes to an end after three-and-a-half years, its new extended mission will begin. NASA's Kepler telescope has helped scientists identify more than 2,300 planet candidates, and confirm more than 100 plants. The telescope is helping to unravel more information about the universe, and gather details about what lies beyond those stars in the sky. Hundreds of Earth-size planet candidates...
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Nov. 14, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- SETI Institute announces today it has received a donation of $3.5 million from Franklin Antonio, Co-founder and Chief Scientist of Qualcomm. The money will be used to more than double the sensitivity of the Allen Telescope Array by replacing a portion of the antenna feed, which receives signals from the cosmos to search for life in the universe. In honor of the donation, the upgrade will be called the "Antonio Antenna Feed."...
April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Curiosity got a taste of solids from the Martian surface on November 9th, when a pinch of fine sand and dust was deposited in the biggest instrument on the rover: the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM). SAM is located inside the rover and examines the chemistry of samples it ingests, checking specifically for chemistry related to supporting life. The sample was delivered to an inlet port on the rover deck by Curiosity's robotic arm. For...
BALTIMORE, Nov. 13, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The Maryland Science Center (MSC) in Baltimore opened its latest original, permanent exhibition, Life Beyond Earth, on November 2, 2012. Developed by MSC staff as part of a $723,250 grant from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the 1,400 square foot exhibit introduces visitors to the conditions that sustain life on Earth and invites them to consider the quintessential question, "Are we really alone in the Universe?"...
[ Watch the Video: New Habitable Zone Super-Earth Found in ExoSolar System ] John P. Millis, Ph.D. for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online Mankind’s fascination with the possibility of life on other worlds has been a mainstay of science fiction for more than a century. But it wasn’t until the last decade that we possessed the technology to begin searching in earnest for habitable planets outside of our solar system. While the tally of new worlds has seen a surge recently –...
PASADENA, Calif., Nov. 2, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA's car-sized rover, Curiosity, has taken significant steps toward understanding how Mars may have lost much of its original atmosphere. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) Learning what happened to the Martian atmosphere will help scientists assess whether the planet ever was habitable. The present atmosphere of Mars is 100 times thinner than Earth's. A set of instruments aboard the rover has...
Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online NASA said on Friday that its Curiosity rover has helped determine Mars' atmosphere is 100 times thinner than Earth's. Curiosity has been performing scientific experiments while positioned at "Rocknest," a site near Gale Crater. While parked, the rover has ingested and analyzed samples of the atmosphere. Findings from the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instruments onboard Curiosity suggest that a loss of a fraction of the atmosphere...
Latest Astrobiology Reference Libraries
Image Caption: Artistic concept of a planetary system. Credit: Wikipedia/NASA/JPL-Caltech The term Astronomy encompasses a broad range of topics, including the study of stars, galaxies, and planets. In order to focus on the different areas of study, many subfields of astronomy emerge. One such area is the study of planets known, appropriately, as Planetary Astronomy. Observational Planetary Astronomy Even within the field of Planetary Astronomy, there are several divisions to...
Astrobiology is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published monthly by Mary Ann Liebert Inc. It is the official journal of the Astrobiology Society. As of May 2012, the editor-in-chief is Sherry L. Cady, PhD (Portland State University, Department of Geology). Astrobiology is the leading international journal for astronomers, biologists, chemists, geologists, microbiologists, paleontologists, and planetary scientists designed to advance our understanding of life’s origin, evolution, and...
Carl Edward Sagan (November 9, 1934 - December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer who pioneered exobiology and promoted the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) and science in general. He is less well known for his skepticism. Born in Brooklyn, New York, Sagan attended the University of Chicago, where he received a bachelor's degree (1955) and a master's degree (1956) in physics, before earning his doctorate (1960) in astronomy and astrophysics. He taught at Harvard University...
Xenobiology -- Xenobiology (or exobiology, or astrobiology) is the term for a speculative field within biology which considers the possibility of, and possible nature of, extraterrestrial life. It also necessarily includes the concept of artificial life, since any life form might naturally evolve elsewhere, could conceivably come out of a laboratory using a future technology. It might be difficult to tell whether a truly strange life form had in fact arisen in space, or was designed much...
Panspermia -- Panspermia is a theory (more directly described as a hypothesis, as there is no compelling evidence yet available to support or contradict it) that suggests that the seeds of life are prevalent throughout the universe and life on Earth began by such seeds landing on Earth and propagating. The theory has origins in the ideas of Anaxagoras, a Greek philosopher. An important proponent of the theory was the British astronomer Sir Fred Hoyle. There is some evidence to...
