Article authored by Jennifer Heldmann (SST) and Darlene Lim (SST) entitled, “BASALT A: Basaltic Terrains in Idaho and Hawaii as Planetary Analogues for Mars Geology and Astrobiology,” is published online: 9 Oct 2018 https://doi.org/10.1089/ast.2018.1847
Moore, Jeffrey M.; Howard, Alan D.; Umurhan, Orkan M.; White, Oliver L.; Schenk, Paul M.; Beyer, Ross A.; McKinnon, William B.; Spencer, John R.; Singer, Kelsi N.; Grundy, William M.; Earle, Alissa M.; Schmitt, Bernard; Protopapa, Silvia; Nimmo, Francis; Cruikshank, Dale P.; Hinson, David P.; Young, Leslie A.; Stern, S. Alan; Weaver, Harold A.; Olkin, Cathy B.; Ennico, Kimberly; Collins, Geoffrey; Bertrand, Tanguy; Forget, François; Scipioni, Francesca; New Horizons Science Team “Bladed Terrain on Pluto: Possible origins and evolution” Icarus, Volume 300, p. 129-144
Chao He, Sarah M. Hörst, Nikole K. Lewis, Xinting Yu, Julianne I. Moses, Eliza M.-R. Kempton, Mark S. Marley, Patricia McGuiggan, Caroline V. Morley, Jeff A. Valenti, & Véronique Vuitton. “Photochemical Haze Formation in the Atmospheres of super-Earths and mini-Neptunes.” APJ Submitted. Haze particles play an important role in planetary atmospheres because they affect the chemistry, dynamics, and radiation flux in planetary atmospheres, and may provide a source of organic material to the surface which may impact the origin or evolution of life. Our results provide useful laboratory data on the photochemical haze formation and particle properties, which can serve as critical inputs for exoplanet atmosphere modeling, and guide future observations of exoplanets with the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), and the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST).
Ashley, Trisha; Marcum, Pamela M.; Fanelli, Michael N. “The Neutral Gas Properties of Extremely Isolated Early-type Galaxies. II.” The Astronomical Journal
Cuzzi, Jeffrey N.; French, Richard G.; Hendrix, Amanda R.; Olson, Daniel M.; Roush, Ted; Vahidinia, Sanaz “HST-STIS spectra and the redness of Saturn’s rings” Icarus, Volume 309
Wilson, Jack T.; Eke, Vincent R.; Massey, Richard J.; Elphic, Richard C.; Feldman, William C.; Maurice, Sylvestre; Teodoro, Luís F. A. “Equatorial locations of water on Mars: Improved resolution maps based on Mars Odyssey Neutron Spectrometer data” Icarus, Volume 299
Haberle, Robert M.; Juárez, Manuel de la Torre; Kahre, Melinda A.; Kass, David M.; Barnes, Jeffrey R.; Hollingsworth, Jeffery L.; Harri, Ari-Matti; Kahanpää, Henrik “Detection of Northern Hemisphere transient eddies at Gale Crater Mars” Icarus, Volume 307
Quarles, B.; Lissauer, Jack J. “Long-term Stability of Tightly Packed Multi-planet Systems in Prograde, Coplanar, Circumstellar Orbits within the _ Centauri AB System” The Astronomical Journal, Volume 155
Manjavacas, Elena; Apai, Dániel; Zhou, Yifan; Karalidi, Theodora; Lew, Ben W. P.; Schneider, Glenn; Cowan, Nicolas; Metchev, Stan; Miles-Páez, Paulo A.; Burgasser, Adam J.; Radigan, Jacqueline; Bedin, Luigi R.; Lowrance, Patrick J.; Marley, Mark S. “Cloud Atlas: Discovery of Rotational Spectral Modulations in a Low-mass, L-type Brown Dwarf Companion to a Star” The Astronomical Journal, Volume 155
Robbins, Stuart J.; Runyon, Kirby; Singer, Kelsi N.; Bray, Veronica J.; Beyer, Ross A.; Schenk, Paul; McKinnon, William B.; Grundy, William M.; Nimmo, Francis; Moore, Jeffrey M.; Spencer, John R.; White, Oliver L.; Binzel, Richard P.; Buie, Marc W.; Buratti, Bonnie J.; Cheng, Andrew F.; Linscott, Ivan R.; Reitsema, Harold J.; Reuter, Dennis C.; Showalter, Mark R.; Tyler, G. Len; Young, Leslie A.; Olkin, Catherine B.; Ennico, Kimberly S.; Weaver, Harold A.; Stern, S. Alan “Investigation of Charon’s Craters With Abrupt Terminus Ejecta, Comparisons With Other Icy Bodies, and Formation Implications“
Pajola, Maurizio; Roush, Ted; Dalle Ore, Cristina; Marzo, Giuseppe A.; Simioni, Emanuele “Phobos MRO/CRISM visible and near-infrared (0.5-2.5 _m) spectral modeling” Planetary and Space Science, Volume 154
Santiago-Materese, D. L.; Iraci, L. T.; Clapham, M. E.; Chuang, P. Y. “Chlorine-containing salts as water ice nucleating particles on Mars” Icarus, Volume 303
Dr. Dale P. Cruikshank (SSA) one of the Co-authors of, “ The Water in Saturn’s Rings and Satellites is Like That on Earth Except for Saturn’s Moon Phoebe, Which is Out of This World” appeared in Icarus paper “Isotopic Ratios of Saturn’s Rings and Satellites: Implications for the Origin of Water and Phoebe” by Planetary Science Institute Senior Scientist Roger N. Clark, also mean we need to change models of the formation of the Solar System because the new results are in conflict with existing models, (2018). DOI: 10.1016/j.icarus.2018.11.029 . https://phys.org/news/2018-12-saturn-satellites-earth-moon-phoebe.html
Understand Formation of Planets, Satellites and Rings, and Their Long-Term Evolution and Dynamics: The journal Science is publishing five articles this week as the first of two installments reporting the results of the Grand Finale phase. Three of the articles deal with the properties of Saturn’s inner rings, and their interaction with the planet’s upper atmosphere. Jeff Cuzzi (SST) is involved with two of these papers, in his capacity as an Interdisciplinary Scientist for Rings and Dust. The three studies come to rather different conclusions about the amount of mass falling into the planet, suggesting it might be strongly variable in time. This means they can’t cast much light on the key question of how old the rings are.
Accepted September 7th 2018: Oliver L. White (SST), Jeffrey M. Moore (SST), Alan D. Howard, William B. McKinnon, James T. Keane, Kelsi N. Singer, Tanguy Bertrand (SST), Stuart J. Robbins, Paul M. Schenk, Bernard Schmitt, Bonnie J. Buratti, S. Alan Stern, Kimberly Ennico, Cathy B. Olkin, Harold A. Weaver, Leslie A. Young, and the New Horizons Geology, Geophysics and Imaging Theme Team. Washboard and Fluted Terrains on Pluto as Evidence for Ancient Glaciation, Nature Astronomy (volume and doi pending).
Jeff Cuzzi (SST) and Justin Simon (JSC; lead author), and a team of undergraduate interns, have just published a paper in Earth and Planetary Science Letters, that may have significant implications about the very first stages of growth of solid particles in the protoplanetary nebula and how they were formed into the very first planetesimals, long before the formation of Earth. The paper (that included significant contributions from Jeff Scargle of SST and Daniel Olson of BAERI) also showed that the size distributions of chondrules in the different bunches were actually different, thus suggesting the bunches are actual physical aggregates of chondrules, grown by sticking in two different locations, and then brought together to be formed into the same planetesimal. The very fact that aggregates of several-cm diameter can form at all is very important for planetesimal formation theories. The paper also showed that chondrule size distributions have a universal shape across these two groups and one other entirely different chondrite. If chondrules generally grow into aggregates by sticking before planetesimal formation, this means the characteristic size distribution may be an attribute of the growth by sticking process, which would have implications for the level of turbulence in the nebula. JSC issued a press release (below; Simon is the lead author). The work was recently highlighted on the NASA.gov website.
Published August 2nd 2018: Jeffrey M. Moore (SST), William B. McKinnon, Dale P. Cruikshank (SST), G. Randall Gladstone, John R. Spencer, S. Alan Stern, Harold A. Weaver, Kelsi N. Singer, Mark R. Showalter, William M. Grundy, Ross A. Beyer, Oliver L. White (SST), Richard P. Binzel, Marc W. Buie, Bonnie J. Buratti, Andrew F. Cheng, Carly Howett, Cathy B. Olkin, Alex H. Parker, Simon B. Porter, Paul M. Schenk, Henry B. Throop, Anne J. Verbiscer, Leslie A. Young, Susan D. Benecchi, Veronica J. Bray, Carrie L. Chavez (SST), Rajani D. Dhingra, Alan D. Howard, Tod R. Lauer, Carey M. Lisse, Stuart J. Robbins, Kirby D. Runyon, Orkan M. Umurhan (SST), Great Expectations: Plans and Predictions for New Horizons Encounter With Kuiper Belt Object 2014 MU69 (“Ultima Thule”), Geophysical Research Letters, Volume 45, https://doi.org/10.1029/2018GL078996
Accepted August 2018: Daniel E.J. Hobley, Jeffrey M. Moore (SST), Alan D. Howard, Orkan M. Umurhan (SST), Formation of Metre-Scale Bladed Roughness on Europa’s Surface by Ablation of Ice, Nature Geoscience (volume and doi pending).
Chao He, Sarah M, Lewis Nikole, Xinting Yu, and Mark Marley (SST), Photochemical Haze Formation in the Atmospheres of Super-Earths and Mini-Neptunes, The Astronomical Journal, Volume 156, 10.3847//1538-3881/aac883
Jeff Cuzzi (SST) the author on journal paper, “Primitive aggregates in chondrites revealed“, along with J. Simon (JSC), and their collaborators – including six undergraduate interns who did a lot of the underlying measurements, J. Scargle of Ames who contributed sophisticated statistical analysis, and D. Olson (BAERI) who contributed simulations of chondrule cross-sectioning. The paper consists of an unprecedented textural analysis of large slabs from two different primitive chondrites. http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2018E%26PSL.494…69S
Co-I Derek Sears has submitted his Kuiper book to the University of Arizona press: “The THIRD ERA: Gerard P. Kuiper and the emergence of modern planetary science”.
Janice Bishop (SSX, SETI) is the primary author on “Surface clay formation during short-term warmer and wetter conditions on a largely cold ancient Mars,” accepted for publication in Nature Astronomy to appear on Feb. 5th, 2018. (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-017-0377-9)
Dalle Ore, C. Morea; Protopapa, S.; Cook, J. C.; Grundy, W. M.; Cruikshank, D. P.; Verbiscer, A. J.; Ennico, K.; Olkin, C. B.; Stern, S. A.; Weaver, H. A.; Young, L. A.; New Horizons Science Team “Ices on Charon: Distribution of H2O and NH3 from New Horizons LEISA observations” Icarus, Volume 300, p. 21-32
Christiansen, Jessie L.; Vanderburg, Andrew; Burt, Jennifer; Fulton, B. J.; Batygin, Konstantin; Benneke, Björn; Brewer, John M.; Charbonneau, David; Ciardi, David R.; Collier Cameron, Andrew; Coughlin, Jeffrey L.; Crossfield, Ian J. M.; Dressing, Courtney; Greene, Thomas P.; Howard, Andrew W.; Latham, David W.; Molinari, Emilio; Mortier, Annelies; Mullally, Fergal; Pepe, Francesco; Rice, Ken; Sinukoff, Evan; Sozzetti, Alessandro; Thompson, Susan E.; Udry, Stéphane; Vogt, Steven S.; Barman, Travis S.; Batalha, Natasha E.; Bouchy, François; Buchhave, Lars A.; Butler, R. Paul; Cosentino, Rosario; Dupuy, Trent J.; Ehrenreich, David; Fiorenzano, Aldo; Hansen, Brad M. S.; Henning, Thomas; Hirsch, Lea; Holden, Bradford P.; Isaacson, Howard T.; Johnson, John A.; Knutson, Heather A.; Kosiarek, Molly; López-Morales, Mercedes; Lovis, Christophe; Malavolta, Luca; Mayor, Michel; Micela, Giuseppina; Motalebi, Fatemeh; Petigura, Erik; Phillips, David F.; Piotto, Giampaolo; Rogers, Leslie A.; Sasselov, Dimitar; Schlieder, Joshua E.; Ségransan, Damien; Watson, Christopher A.; Weiss, Lauren M. “Three’s Company: An Additional Non-transiting Super-Earth in the Bright HD 3167 System, and Masses for All Three Planets” The Astronomical Journal
Kopparapu, Ravi Kumar; Hébrard, Eric; Belikov, Rus; Batalha, Natalie M.; Mulders, Gijs D.; Stark, Chris; Teal, Dillon; Domagal-Goldman, Shawn; Mandell, Avi “Exoplanet Classification and Yield Estimates for Direct Imaging Missions” The Astrophysical Journal
Beichman, C. A.; Giles, H. A. C.; Akeson, R.; Ciardi, D.; Christiansen, J.; Isaacson, H.; Marcy, G. M.; Sinukoff, E.; Greene, T.; Fortney, J. J.; Crossfield, I.; Hu, R.; Howard, A. W.; Petigura, E. A.; Knutson, H. A. ” Validation and Initial Characterization of the Long-period Planet Kepler-1654 b” The Astronomical Journal
Thompson, Susan E.; Coughlin, Jeffrey L.; Hoffman, Kelsey; Mullally, Fergal; Christiansen, Jessie L.; Burke, Christopher J.; Bryson, Steve; Batalha, Natalie; Haas, Michael R.; Catanzarite, Joseph; Rowe, Jason F.; Barentsen, Geert; Caldwell, Douglas A.; Clarke, Bruce D.; Jenkins, Jon M.; Li, Jie; Latham, David W.; Lissauer, Jack J.; Mathur, Savita; Morris, Robert L.; Seader, Shawn E.; Smith, Jeffrey C.; Klaus, Todd C.; Twicken, Joseph D.; Van Cleve, Jeffrey E.; Wohler, Bill; Akeson, Rachel; Ciardi, David R.; Cochran, William D.; Henze, Christopher E.; Howell, Steve B.; Huber, Daniel; Pr_a, Andrej; Ramírez, Solange V.; Morton, Timothy D.; Barclay, Thomas; Campbell, Jennifer R.; Chaplin, William J.; Charbonneau, David; Christensen-Dalsgaard, Jørgen; Dotson, Jessie L.; Doyle, Laurance; Dunham, Edward W.; Dupree, Andrea K.; Ford, Eric B.; Geary, John C.; Girouard, Forrest R.; Isaacson, Howard; Kjeldsen, Hans; Quintana, Elisa V.; Ragozzine, Darin; Shabram, Megan; Shporer, Avi; Silva Aguirre, Victor; Steffen, Jason H.; Still, Martin; Tenenbaum, Peter; Welsh, William F.; Wolfgang, Angie; Zamudio, Khadeejah A.; Koch, David G.; Borucki, William J. “Planetary Candidates Observed by Kepler. VIII. A Fully Automated Catalog with Measured Completeness and Reliability Based on Data Release 25” The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, Volume 235
Feng, Y. Katherina; Robinson, Tyler D.; Fortney, Jonathan J.; Lupu, Roxana E.; Marley, Mark S.; Lewis, Nikole K.; Macintosh, Bruce; Line, Michael R. “Characterizing Earth Analogs in Reflected Light: Atmospheric Retrieval Studies for Future Space Telescopes” The Astronomical Journal, Volume 155
Raymond, Alexander W.; Sciamma-O’Brien, Ella; Salama, Farid; Mazur, Eric “A Model of Titan-like Chemistry to Connect Experiments and Cassini Observations” The Astrophysical Journal
Dworkin, J. P.; Adelman, L. A.; Ajluni, T.; Andronikov, A. V.; Aponte, J. C.; Bartels, A. E.; Beshore, E.; Bierhaus, E. B.; Brucato, J. R.; Bryan, B. H.; Burton, A. S.; Callahan, M. P.; Castro-Wallace, S. L.; Clark, B. C.; Clemett, S. J.; Connolly, H. C.; Cutlip, W. E.; Daly, S. M.; Elliott, V. E.; Elsila, J. E.; Enos, H. L.; Everett, D. F.; Franchi, I. A.; Glavin, D. P.; Graham, H. V.; Hendershot, J. E.; Harris, J. W.; Hill, S. L.; Hildebrand, A. R.; Jayne, G. O.; Jenkens, R. W.; Johnson, K. S.; Kirsch, J. S.; Lauretta, D. S.; Lewis, A. S.; Loiacono, J. J.; Lorentson, C. C.; Marshall, J. R.; Martin, M. G.; Matthias, L. L.; McLain, H. L.; Messenger, S. R.; Mink, R. G.; Moore, J. L.; Nakamura-Messenger, K.; Nuth, J. A.; Owens, C. V.; Parish, C. L.; Perkins, B. D.; Pryzby, M. S.; Reigle, C. A.; Righter, K.; Rizk, B.; Russell, J. F.; Sandford, S. A.; Schepis, J. P.; Songer, J.; Sovinski, M. F.; Stahl, S. E.; Thomas-Keprta, K.; Vellinga, J. M.; Walker, M. S. “OSIRIS-REx Contamination Control Strategy and Implementation” Space Science Reviews, Volume 214
Gao, Peter; Marley, Mark S.; Ackerman, Andrew S. “Sedimentation Efficiency of Condensation Clouds in Substellar Atmospheres” The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 855
Michel Nuevo (BAERI/SSA), George Cooper (SSX), and Scott Sandford (SSA) published a paper in Nature Communications: entitled, “Deoxyribose and Deoxysugar Derivatives from Photoprocessed Astrophysical Ice Analogues and Comparison with Meteorites”, Nature Communications, 9, 5276 (DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-07693-x). This paper describes the detection of 2-deoxyribose (the sugar of DNA) as well as several other deoxysugar derivatives in laboratory residues produced from the ultraviolet irradiation of water and methanol ice mixtures under simulated astrophysical conditions. This work also shows that some of these deoxysugar derivatives were also identified in carbonaceous meteorites, although the presence of 2-deoxyribose itself could not be confirmed in the meteoritic samples analyzed. The presence of sugar derivatives (including ribose and 2-deoxyribose) as well as a host of other biological compounds, such as amino acids and nucleobases, in primitive meteorites suggests that a non-negligible fraction of the compounds from which life emerged on the primitive Earth may have been delivered via comets, meteorites, and interplanetary dust particles.
Farid Salama (SSA), Ella Sciamma-O’Brien (SSA) and Salma Bejaoui (SSA) co-authored a newly published article on the NASA Ames COSmIC Facility in the IAU Proceedings Series. Recent Progress in Laboratory Astrophysics Achieved with NASA Ames’ COSmIC Facility Farid Salama, Ella Sciamma-O’Brien, Cesar S. Contreras, Salma Bejaoui in Astrochemistry VII – Through the Cosmos from Galaxies to Planets Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union, Volume 13, Issue S33, March 2017 Y.Aikawa, M. Cunningham, T. Millar, eds. Published: 04 September 2018, pp. 364-369 https://doi.org/10.1017/S1743921317011619
Special Issue Article Manuscript submission estimated Publication in Sept. 2018 to the Journal of Astronomical Instrumentation, First Author Temi Pasquale Code SSA, entitled SOFIA at Full Operations.
Tom Greene (ARC SSA), Michael Gully-Santiago (ARC SSA BAERI / K2), and Mary Barsony (SETI Institute) had their paper “Detection of Photospheric Features in the Near-Infrared Spectrum of a Class 0 Protostar” accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal on June 11. Greene and collaborators made the observation using competitively awarded NASA Keck Observatory telescope time, and Gully-Santiago led the data analysis using an advanced Markov Chain Monte Carlo modeling technique. Class 0 protostars are in the youngest evolutionary states, still having yet to accumulate the bulk of their final mass. The group found that this object is approximately the same temperature but 3 times larger in radius (10 times lower surface gravity) than the more commonly observed T Tauri young stars. Their data and analysis is consistent with the majority of its mass still being in a cold circumstellar envelope. This is the first known detection and analysis of a Class 0 protostar absorption spectrum, and Greene plans to obtain better observations of similar objects using guaranteed time on the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope.
The April 2018 issue of the journal ELEMENTS was devoted to the subject of comets. Included in the issue was an invited paper on Organic Molecules and Volatile in comets that was co-authored by Drs. Hikaru Yabuta (Hiroshima University), Scott Sandford (ARC), and Karen Meech (University of Hawaii). The review was written for a general geosciences audience and the journal is distributed to the members of multiple national and international science organizations. The paper included discussions of what is known about cometary organics and volatile on the basis of ground-based and flyby observations, laboratory experiments, and the analysis of cometary samples. The full citation is Yabuta, H., Sandford, S. A., & Meech, K. J. “Organic Molecules and Volatiles in Comets.” Elements 14, 101-106. DOI: 10.2138/gselements.14.2.101
Pasquale Temi (SSA) is the Co_authors of the paper that appears in The Astrophysical Journal, 2018, 854,817 entitled, “Shaken Snow Globes: Kinematic Tracers of the Multiphase Condensation Cascade in Massive Galaxies”. This investigation provides constraints on the fundamental interaction between massive black holes and galaxies via comparison of observational data with high-resolution 3D hydro-dynamical simulations. The objectives are aligned with the on-going development of the Arcus X-Ray Grating Spectrometer Mission (Phase-A Midex-Explorer). This project made extensive use of the NASA Advanced Supercomputing (NAS) resources at NASA/Ames (Program SMD-16-7320, SMD-16-7321, SMD-16-7305). This work is in collaboration with Dr. M. Gaspari at Princeton University and other members of the international scientific community. Link Here. Gaspari, M.; McDonald, M.; Hamer, S. L.; Brighenti, F.; Temi, P.; Gendron-Marsolais, M.; Hlavacek-Larrondo, J.; Edge, A. C.; Werner, N.; Tozzi, P.; Sun, M.; Stone, J. M.; Tremblay, G. R.; Hogan, M. T.; Eckert, D.; Ettori, S.; Yu, H.; Biffi, V.; Planelles, S. “Shaken Snow Globes: Kinematic Tracers of the Multiphase Condensation Cascade in Massive Galaxies, Groups, and Clusters” The Astrophysical Journal
Pasquale Temi (SSA) is the Co_authors of the paper that appears in The Astrophysical Journal Journal, 2018 In Press entitled, “ALMA observations of molecular clouds in three group centered elliptical galaxies.” This work presents new ALMA CO(2-1) observations of three well studied group-centered elliptical galaxies. We find evidence that molecular gas, in the form of off-center orbiting clouds, is a common presence in bright group-centered galaxies.
Farid Salama (SSA) is a co-author on the publication titled “The ESO Diffuse Interstellar Bands Large Exploration Survey (EDIBLES)” Nick L. J. Cox et al. (the EDIBLES Consortium Team) The Messenger 171 (March 2018): 31–36.Link Here.
C. J. Mackie, A. Candian, X. Huang, E. Maltseva, A. Petrignani, J. Oomens, W. J. Buma,T. J. Lee, and A. G. G. M. Tielens, “The anharmonic quartic force field infrared spectra of decorated PAHs,” Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 20, 1189
Jensen-Clem, Rebecca; Mawet, Dimitri; Gomez Gonzalez, Carlos A.; Absil, Olivier; Belikov, Ruslan; Currie, Thayne; Kenworthy, Matthew A.; Marois, Christian; Mazoyer, Johan; Ruane, Garreth; Tanner, Angelle; Cantalloube, Faustine -SSA-“A New Standard for Assessing the Performance of High Contrast Imaging Systems” The Astronomical Journal
Rangwala, Naseem; Colgan, Sean W. J.; Le Gal, Romane; Acharyya, Kinsuk; Huang, Xinchuan; Lee, Timothy J.; Herbst, Eric; deWitt, Curtis; Richter, Matt; Boogert, Adwin; McKelvey, Mark “High Spectral Resolution SOFIA/EXES Observations of C2H2 toward Orion IRc2″ The Astrophysical Journal
Landsman, Zoe A.; Emery, Joshua P.; Campins, Humberto; Hanu_, Josef; Lim, Lucy F.; Cruikshank, Dale P. “Asteroid (16) Psyche: Evidence for a silicate regolith from spitzer space telescope spectroscopy” Icarus, Volume 304, p. 58-73.
Rangwala, Naseem; Colgan, Sean W. J.; Le Gal, Romane; Acharyya, Kinsuk; Huang, Xinchuan; Lee, Timothy J.; Herbst, Eric; deWitt, Curtis; Richter, Matt; Boogert, Adwin; McKelvey, Mark “High Spectral Resolution SOFIA/EXES Observations of C2H2 toward Orion IRc2” The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 856
Maltseva, Elena; Mackie, Cameron J.; Candian, Alessandra; Petrignani, Annemieke; Huang, Xinchuan; Lee, Timothy J.; Tielens, Alexander G. G. M.; Oomens, Jos; Buma, Wybren Jan “High-resolution IR absorption spectroscopy of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the 3 _m region: role of hydrogenation and alkylation” Astronomy & Astrophysics, Volume 610
Applin, Daniel M.; Izawa, Matthew R. M.; Cloutis, Edward A.; Gillis-Davis, Jeffrey J.; Pitman, Karly M.; Roush, Ted L.; Hendrix, Amanda R.; Lucey, Paul G. “Ultraviolet spectral reflectance of carbonaceous materials” Icarus, Volume 307
Dr. Pasquale Temi (SSA) the Author of, “ Sofia at Full Operation Capability: Technical Performance”. The Journal of Astronomical Instrumentation (JAI) in its December 2018 release is publishing a volume dedicated to the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA). This SOFIA Special Issue collects 15 manuscripts covering current status of the Observatory and recent updates of the SOFIA Observatory systems, including flight planning, telescope developments, observatory technical performance, and an in-depth description of the science Instruments. The papers in this issue give a comprehensive description and show the depth and breadth of the Observatory with particular emphasis to the evolution of the science instruments and their relevance for future NASA IR observatories. JAI is a peer review journal specialized in technical and engineering aspects of astronomical instrumentation/observatories. Dr. Pasquale Temi (SSA) served as guest editor for the dedicated volume to be released December 15. https://www.worldscientific.com/doi/abs/10.1142/S2251171718400111?af=R
Ann Marie Cody, who works in the K2 GO office has released a “High-Level Science Product via the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes” which combines all the small pixel tiles into large super stamps for four-star clusters (M35, M67, Ruprecht 147 and NGC 6530). The HLSP is available here. A research note describing these science products was also published here. These clusters are so dense that the resource efficient way to observe them was by putting a bunch of adjacent pixel masks all over the cluster rather than targeting individual stars. But that also means there are some additional analysis steps for scientists as compared to our standard stellar targets. Providing these super stamps is one of the products we’ve identified that should enable the science community to dig into these clusters and get the most science from our data.
Jennifer Heldmann (SST) and Chris McKay (SST) are co-authors on a publication in Antartica. Antartica Science, 1-12, 2017 outlining the effects of snow cover and salt on the stability of subsurface ice in the Dry Valleys of Antarctica as an analog for ground ice on Mars. McKay and Heldmann conducted fieldwork in Antarctica to measure the distribution and environmental conditions of subsurface ice in University Valley, Antarctica. This work motivated the subsequent numerical modeling to understand the physics of how such ice retains its present distribution and forms the basis for our improved understanding of analogous subsurface ice in the mid to high latitudes of Mars. This work is important not only for the field of icy dynamics but also as an important input into Mars landing site selection for future robotic and human missions which require the presence of near-surface martian ice as both a scientific target and as a resource for ISRU (in situ resource utilization). More here. Williams, K.E., Heldmann, J.L., McKay, C.P., and M.T. Mellon. “The effects of snow cover and salt on ice table stability in University Valley, Antarctica.” Antarctic Science, 1-12, 2017.
Wang, Jason J.; Perrin, Marshall D.; Savransky, Dmitry; Arriaga, Pauline; Chilcote, Jeffrey K.; De Rosa, Robert J.; Millar-Blanchaer, Maxwell A.; Marois, Christian; Rameau, Julien; Wolff, Schuyler G.; Shapiro, Jacob; Ruffio, Jean-Baptiste; Maire, Jérôme; Marchis, Franck; Graham, James R.; Macintosh, Bruce; Ammons, S. Mark; Bailey, Vanessa P.; Barman, Travis S.; Bruzzone, Sebastian; Bulger, Joanna; Cotten, Tara; Doyon, René; Duchêne, Gaspard; Fitzgerald, Michael P.; Follette, Katherine B.; Goodsell, Stephen; Greenbaum, Alexandra Z.; Hibon, Pascale; Hung, Li-Wei; Ingraham, Patrick; Kalas, Paul; Konopacky, Quinn M.; Larkin, James E.; Marley, Mark S.; Metchev, Stanimir; Nielsen, Eric L.; Oppenheimer, Rebecca; Palmer, David W.; Patience, Jennifer; Poyneer, Lisa A.; Pueyo, Laurent; Rajan, Abhijith; Rantakyrö, Fredrik T.; Schneider, Adam C.; Sivaramakrishnan, Anand; Song, Inseok; Soummer, Remi; Thomas, Sandrine; Wallace, J. Kent; Ward-Duong, Kimberly; Wiktorowicz, Sloane J. “Automated data processing architecture for the Gemini Planet Imager Exoplanet Survey” Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems, Volume 4
Aschwanden, Markus J.; Scholkmann, Felix; Béthune, William; Schmutz, Werner; Abramenko, Valentina; Cheung, Mark C. M.; Müller, Daniel; Benz, Arnold; Chernov, Guennadi; Kritsuk, Alexei G.; Scargle, Jeffrey D.; Melatos, Andrew; Wagoner, Robert V.; Trimble, Virginia; Green, William H. “Order out of Randomness: Self-Organization Processes in Astrophysics” Space Science Reviews, Volume 214
Harker, David E.; Woodward, Charles E.; Kelley, Michael S. P.; Wooden, Diane H. “Hyperactivity and Dust Composition of Comet 103P/Hartley 2 During the EPOXI Encounter” The Astronomical Journal, Volume 155
Tom Bristow (SSX) is a co-author of a paper that was accepted to the journal Icarus, “Chemical alteration of fine-grained sedimentary rocks at Gale crater.” The paper uses geochemical and mineralogical indicators to show that ancient Gale lake sediments on Mars were subject to chemical weathering processes in near-surface environments. This has implications for ancient Martian climate conditions and processes influencing geochemical cycles on ancient Mars. [doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2018.11.004]
SSX researchers, Tom Bristow, David Blake, and David Des Marais are co-authors on the publication, ‘Sand mineralogy within the Bagnold Dunes, Gale crater, as observed in situ and from orbit,’ that appeared in Geophysical Research Letters, August 2018, doi: 10.1029/2018GL079073.
George Cooper (SSX), Andro Rios (SSX-BMSIS), and Michel Nuevo (SSA-BAERI) published a review article ‘Monosaccharides and Their Derivatives in Carbonaceous Meteorites: A Scenario for Their Synthesis and Onset of Enantiomeric Excesses’ that appeared in Life, 2018, 8, 36; doi:10.3390/life8030036. The paper uses the properties of organic compounds from carbonaceous meteorites to suggest a scenario for synthesis and other processes of the solar system’s earliest compounds. Carbonaceous meteorites provide the best glimpse into these physical and chemical processes. We present a scenario that suggests that most of Earth’s extraterrestrial sugar alcohols (e.g., glycerol) were synthesized by interstellar irradiation and/or cold grain chemistry and that the early solar disk was the location of the initial enantiomeric (mirror-image) excesses in meteoritic sugar derivatives.
Thomas Bristow (SSX) is first author on journal paper, “Ambient and cold-temperature infrared spectra and XRD patterns of ammoniated phyllosilicates and carbonaceous chondrite meteorites relevant to Ceres and other solar system bodies”, accepted for publication to Meteoritics & Planetary Science, vol 53, No. 6 to appear in June 2018. Link Here.
Tom Bristow (SSX) is the primary author of the paper, “Clay Mineral Diversity and Abundance in Sedimentary Rocks of Gale Crater, Mars” that is to appear in Science Advances. David Des Marais and David Blake, also from SSX, are co-authors. Analysis from data obtained by the MSL rover, Curiosity, suggest that dioctahedral smectite formed via near-surface chemical weathering driven by fluctuations in lake level and atmospheric infiltration, a process leading to the redistribution of nutrients and potentially influencing the cycling of gases that help regulate climate. The paper will appear in Science Advances, June 6th.
Microbial activity in Earth’s driest desert, Soils in the hyperarid core of the Atacama Desert (Chile) are the driest and most inhospitable on Earth. They have long been considered analogous to Martian regolith. Now, an international team of scientist including researchers from NASA Ames have discovered evidence that even in these soils microbial activity could be possible during transient and rare rain events. Their results published this month in a paper in PNAS titled “Transitory microbial habitat in the hyperarid Atacama Desert” (Schulze-Makuch et al. PNAS 2018) show that indigenous microbial communities are present and temporally active even in the driest Atacama soils. Findings reported in the paper expand the range of hyperarid environments temporarily habitable for terrestrial life, which by extension also applies to other planetary bodies like Mars. NASA Ames’ Researchers Alfonso Davila (SSX) andChris McKay(SST) are co-authors in this publication. Schulze-Makuch, Dirk; Wagner, Dirk; Kounaves, Samuel P.; Mangelsdorf, Kai; Devine, Kevin G.; de Vera, Jean-Pierre; Schmitt-Kopplin, Philippe; Grossart, Hans-Peter; Parro, Victor; Kaupenjohann, Martin; Galy, Albert; Schneider, Beate; Airo, Alessandro; Frösler, Jan; Davila, Alfonso F.; Arens, Felix L.; Cáceres, Luis; Solís Cornejo, Francisco; Carrizo, Daniel; Dartnell, Lewis; DiRuggiero, Jocelyne; Flury, Markus; Ganzert, Lars; Gessner, Mark O.; Grathwohl, Peter; Guan, Lisa; Heinz, Jacob; Hess, Matthias; Keppler, Frank; Maus, Deborah; McKay, Christopher P.; Meckenstock, Rainer U.; Montgomery, Wren; Oberlin, Elizabeth A.; Probst, Alexander J.; Sáenz, Johan S.; Sattler, Tobias; Schirmack, Janosch; Sephton, Mark A.; Schloter, Michael; Uhl, Jenny; Valenzuela, Bernardita; Vestergaard, Gisle; Wörmer, Lars; Zamorano, Pedro “Transitory microbial habitat in the hyperarid Atacama Desert” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 115
Fujishima, K., Wang, K., Palmer, J., Abe, N., Nakahigashi, K., Endy, D. & Rothschild, L.J 2018. “Reconstruction of cysteine biosynthesis using engineered cysteinefree enzymes”. Scientific Reports, Nature Publishing Group 8:1776. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-19920-y article here. This work demonstrates a way to break the “chicken and egg” conundrum of the fact that the amino acid cysteine was through to require cysteine for its synthesis from the prebiotically-produced amino acid serine. Rothschild and her team demonstrated that the cysteine could be removed from the enzymes and still retain activity.
Derek Sears (SST), Alexander Sehlke (SST), and Hazel Sears (SST) published two papers based on analysis from volcanic field samples collected in Idaho and Hawaii titled, Induced thermoluminescence as a method for dating recent volcanism Hawaii County Hawaii USA published on September 2017.
