Astro Blog

By David L. Chandler , Sky & Telescope.  Excerpt: The Perseverance has found compounds associated with life on Earth. But whether they indicate life on Mars awaits sample return. ...One rock,...is dotted with colored spots, ...The leopard spots, it turns out, appear to be  reaction fronts  — areas of contact between an expanding chemical reaction and surrounding rock. The material in the rings is composed of two different iron-rich minerals: vivianite (iron phosphate) and greigite (iron sulfide). Both of these minerals, on Earth, are usually associated with decaying plant matter or are products of microbial activity. ...The team cautions, however, that a non-biological formation process has not been ruled out.  Full article at https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/best-evidence-yet-for-past-life-on-mars/ .  See also New York Times article .

By Kimberly M. S. Cartier , Eos/AGU.  Excerpt: On 1 July 2025, astronomers detected a visitor from the deep reaches of space. At the time of discovery, the object was just inside Jupiter’s orbit and was zipping across our solar system 4 times faster than the New Horizons probe sped past Pluto. It was first spotted by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System ( ATLAS ) in Chile, which was specifically designed to spot small, fast-moving objects like this. ATLAS sent out a public,  automated alert , and when astronomers saw it, they quickly went to work calculating the object’s orbit and trajectory....  Full article at https://eos.org/features/how-an-interstellar-interloper-spurred-astronomers-into-action .