Category Astronomy/Space

Figure 6 from Nikitczuk et al. Credit: GSA Bulletin and Nikitczuk et al.

Tubular microtunnels believed to be the trace fossils formed by microbes inhabiting volcanic rock interiors have only been reported in oceanic and subglacial settings. This is the first observation of such features in basaltic volcanic glass erupted in a continental lake environment, the Fort Rock volcanic field. As a result, the record of subsurface microbial activity in the form of endolithic microborings is prospectively expanded. Our understanding of the range of environments and conditions that microtunnels can form in is enhanced along with our knowledge of potentially habitable environments on Earth and beyond.

The Fort Rock volcanic field has analogous characteristics to locations found on Mars such as Gale an...

Comparison of morphologies formed by the flow of liquid water on Earth and on Mars. Credit: Marion Massé

At present, liquid water on Mars only exists in small quantities as a boiling liquid, and only during the warmest time of day in summer. Its role has therefore been considered insignificant until now. However, an international team including scientists has now shown that even though water that emerges onto the surface of Mars immediately begins to boil, it creates an unstable, turbulent flow that can eject sediment and cause dry avalanches. The flow of small amounts of a boiling liquid therefore significantly alters the surface...

This artist’s impression shows an imagined view from the surface one of the three planets orbiting an ultracool dwarf star just 40 light-years from Earth.  In this view one of the inner planets is seen in transit across the disc of its tiny and dim parent star. Credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser

These worlds have sizes and temps similar to Venus and Earth and are the best targets found so far for the search for life outside the Solar System. They are the first planets ever discovered around such a tiny and dim star. A team used the Belgian TRAPPIST telescope to observe the star 2MASS J23062928-0502285 aka TRAPPIST-1...

An optical image of the brightest globular cluster, Omega Centauri, a group of over ten million stars older than the Sun. Astronomers have developed a new computational method to determine the abundance of oxygen in these and similar stars, and in particular in giant stars. The code finds values that are more self-consistent than previous estimates. Credit: Joaquin Polleri & Ezequiel Etcheverry, Observatorio Panameño en San Pedro de Atacama

Oxygen is the 3rd most abundant element in the universe, after hydrogen and helium. It is an important constituent of the clouds of gas and dust in space, especially when combined in molecules with other atoms like carbon, and it is from this interstellar material that new stars and planets develop...