7 papers
Ionic Liquid Biospheres
Sara Seager, William Bains, Iaroslav Iakubivskyi +4
Liquid is a fundamental requirement for life as we understand it, but whether that liquid has to be water is not known. We propose the hypothesis that ionic liquids (ILs) and deep…
A Model of UV-Blue Absorbance in Bulk Liquid of Venusian Cloud Aerosols Is Consistent with Efficient Organic Absorbers at High Concentrations
Jan Spacek, Yeon J. Lee, Paul B. Rimmer +1
At visible wavelengths, Venus appears serene and pale-yellow, but since the 1920s, observers have noted high-contrast features in the ultraviolet. These features track the about 4-…
Warm, water-depleted rocky exoplanets with surface ionic liquids: A proposed class for planetary habitability
Rachana Agrawal, Sara Seager, Iaroslav Iakubivskyi +6
The discovery of thousands of exoplanets and the emergence of telescopes capable of exoplanet atmospheric characterization have intensified the search for habitable worlds. Due to…
The Diversity of Exoplanetary Environments and the Search for Signs of Life Beyond Earth
Sara Seager, Janusz J. Petkowski, William Bains
Thousands of exoplanets orbit nearby stars, showcasing a remarkable diversity in mass, size, and orbits. With the James Webb Space Telescope now operational, we are observing exopl…
Prospects for Detecting Signs of Life on Exoplanets in the JWST Era
Sara Seager, Luis Welbanks, Lucas Ellerbroek +2
The search for signs of life in the Universe has entered a new phase with the advent of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Detecting biosignature gases via exoplanet atmosphere…
Simple lipids form stable higher-order structures in concentrated sulfuric acid
Daniel Duzdevich, Collin Nisler, Janusz J. Petkowski +4
Venus has become a target of astrobiological interest because it is physically accessible to direct exploration, unlike exoplanets. So far this interest has been motivated not by t…