Prebiotic Skies
In search of a good origin story for the building blocks of life, the authors of this paper have set their sights higher. Literally higher, to exoplanets’ skies.
Water in Gale Crater on Mars
The Mars rover Curiosity found significant traces of water in the martian soil. This indicates the soil contains water, about 2% by weight.
50 Years of Planetary Science at Caltech
Lots of people said lots of interesting things during the anniversary celebration for Caltech’s planetary science department.
What’s Next For Kepler?
NASA is looking for a new mission for the damaged Kepler space telescope. Here are some ideas.
Atmospheric circulation on hot exoplanets: What about magnets?
Astronomers love to ignore magnetic fields. But they may strongly affect the pattern of atmospheric circulation in hot Jupiters.
Is Earth on the brink of a runaway greenhouse?
This paper considers the possibility that Earth could suffer a runaway or moist greenhouse effect, which probably turned Venus into a hellish wasteland long ago.