ASTROBIOLOGY 574

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ASTROBIOLOGY574
Planetary Habitability
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Martian Meteorite
D. S. McKay et al., Science (1996)
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SNC Noble Gases vs. Martian Atmosphere (from
Viking)
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Martian Nannobacteria?
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MARS PATHFINDERTwin peaks view
NASA Planetary Photojournal (http//photojournal.j
pl.nasa.gov/)
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River channel
Nanedi Vallis (from Mars Global Surveyor)

• Grand Canyon required several
• millions of years to form
• The same should be true for Nanedi
• Vallis

Courtesy of NASA
3 km
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MER Rovers
Courtesy of NASA, by way of Joy Crisp
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Endurance Crater (from MER Rover Opportunity)
http//marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html
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Spherules (Blueberries) on Mars
(False color image)
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EUROPA (from Galileo)
Courtesy NASA Planetary Photojournal
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Titans organic haze layer
Haze is thought to form from photolysis (and
charged particle irradiation) of CH4
(Picture from Voyager 2)
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Lakes on Titan?

• Image taken by the Huygens Probe, launched from
  the
• Cassini spacecraft (January, 2005)

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Titan shoreline?
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G. Marcy and P. Butler (circa 2000)
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Known extrasolar planets
202

• 210 extrasolar planets identified as of Nov. 3,
  2006
• 198 by radial velocity
• 4 microlensing
• 4 direct imaging
• 4 pulsar planets
• 20 multiple planet systems
• None of these planets are very interesting,
  however, from an astrobiological standpoint
• Info from Extrasolar Planets Encyclopedia (Jean
  Schneider,
• CNRS)

http//exoplanets.org/massradiiframe.html
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Extrasolar planets within the HZ
June, 2004
Courtesy of Darren Williams
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TPF-C Visible-light coronagraph
http//planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/TPF/tpf_what_is.cf
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TPF-I Free-flying IR interferometer
http//planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/TPF/tpf_what_is.cf
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