Interstellar Updates

 

These are items of interest to the interstellar exploration community that we’ve found in our quest for information that will help us advance toward our goals.  If you know of anything we’ve overlooked, or any sources of such information we should monitor, or if you would like to be added to our IRG-updates mailing list and receive these updates in you email every weekday, please send that information to info@irg.space.

You can now search our database of interstellar updates and find items of interest to you.

April 13, 2026 updates

Extreme Arabian environments and their microbiomes: new frontiers for astrobiology and biosignature discovery
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00792-026-01426-5

Direct Images of CO2 Absorption in the Atmosphere of a Super-Jupiter: Enhanced Metallicity Suggestive of Formation in a Disk
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.09785

Observational and Dynamical Constraints on an Unseen Outer Perturber in the GJ 436 Hot Neptune
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.09834

Secular Light Curve of Exocomet 3I/ATLAS, and its Location on a Comet Evolutionary Diagram
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.09941

Compact CO emission and no evidence of radial drift. ALMA observations of the faintest planet-forming disks in Lupus
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.11292

From Dust to Planets — A Chemical Perspective
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.11405

Investigation of gravitational stability of protoplanetary disks based on statistical analysis of their masses
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.11642

The GAPS Programme at TNG. LXXIII. Confirmation of the hot sub-Neptune TOI-4602 b (HD 25295 b), a key target for future atmospheric characterization
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.11728

Origin and characterization of super-Earths and sub-Neptunes
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.11779

UMI: GPU-Accelerated Asymmetric Robust Estimator for Photometric Detrending in Exoplanet Transit Searches
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.06602

Warps survive beyond fly-by encounters in protoplanetary disks: RW Aur A as a case study
https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/full_html/2026/04/aa57365-25/aa57365-25.html

Detectability of continuous gravitational waves from planetary-mass companions orbiting compact stars
https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/full_html/2026/04/aa57134-25/aa57134-25.html

PLATOSpec first results: Three new transiting warm Jupiters from the WINE survey, TIC 147027702, TIC 245076932, and TIC 87422071
https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/full_html/2026/04/aa58698-25/aa58698-25.html

Long-period magnetic activity in the K dwarf GJ1137 and a new super-Earth on a 9-day orbit: A cautionary tale for Jovian-analogue detection from Doppler surveys
https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/full_html/2026/04/aa57806-25/aa57806-25.html

Dust distribution in circumstellar disks harboring multi-planet systems: II. Super-thermal-mass planets
https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/full_html/2026/04/aa58980-26/aa58980-26.html

The Permeable Particle Model to Describe the Collisional Evolution of Dust Clusters in Protoplanetary Gas–Dust Disks
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1134/S1063773725700653

New way to date globular clusters: Brown dwarf cooling sequences
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10509-026-04563-7

A study on the stability of ritonavir form III processed in orbit and returned to Earth
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41526-026-00594-0

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Roman Sees Where You Are: Predicting Exoplanet Transit Yields in the Rosette Nebula with the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-3881/ae547d

The Dyson Minds 2025 Workshop: SETI Around Black Holes
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1538-3873/ae5a02

April 10, 2026 updates

Super-Earth masses and stellar abundances from NIRPS reveal tentative evidence for water-rich formation around M dwarfs
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.07447

The Goldilocks problem for detecting water in terrestrial planets: Constraining water abundances in the mid-IR with LIFE
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.07461

Habitability Study of Terrestrial Planets: Application to Venus-like Worlds
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.06792

Hydrolyzed Hazes on Water-rich Exoplanets: Optical Constants and Detectability
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.07498

Exoplanet Orbital Distribution around FGK Sun-like Host Stars II: a valley in the orbital semi-major axis distribution of sub-Neptunes
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.08428

NCCR PlanetS: Observational and computational characterization of exoplanet atmospheres
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.09385

Nii-body: Bayesian Inference of Multiplanet Dynamics via N-body Simulations
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.09383

Detecting nitrogen-carriers in the inner regions of protoplanetary disks
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.09383

Long-period transiting exoplanets: advances in detection and characterization
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.09254

The Illusory Precision of TTV Masses: Hidden Solutions Behind Kepler-9’s Tight Mass Ratio
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.09268

Terrestrial planet formation in the era of GPU computing
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.09184

Machine Learning as a Transformative Tool for (Exo-)Planetary Science
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.09152

Giant Planet Formation by Disk Instability
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.09042

Recent development in high-precision high-fidelity spectrographs for exoplanet research and characterization
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.09020

The formation of planetary systems: physics, populations, and architectures
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.09011

Spectral signatures from the habitable zone
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.08993

Polarimetry in Planetary Sciences and Astronomy
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.08975

April 09, 2026 Updates

Nonequilibrium Synthesis of Glycolamide (NH2COCH2OH), a Precursor to Amino Acids, on Interstellar Nanoparticles
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acscentsci.5c01856

ASTROREPOMICS: A curated transcriptomic database for reproductive biology in space
https://www.cell.com/iscience/fulltext/S2589-0042(26)00684-X

Study of the migration of Earth-like planets in planetesimal disks and the formation of debris disks
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.05902

Determining the Host Stars of Planets in Binary Star Systems with Asterodensity Profiling: Investigating the Canonical Radius Gap
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.06388

An astrometric search for planets in debris disk systems
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.07068

Multiplicity of young brown dwarfs and isolated planetary mass objects in Taurus and Upper Scorpius
https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/full_html/2026/04/aa55031-25/aa55031-25.html

A theory of transmission spectroscopy of hydrodynamic outflows from planetary atmospheres: Spectral-line saturation and limits on mass-loss constraints
https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.15152

PlatoSim: An end-to-end PLATO camera simulator for modelling high-precision space-based photometry
https://arxiv.org/abs/2310.06985

UMI: A GPU-Accelerated Asymmetric Robust Estimator for Photometric Detrending in Exoplanet Transit Searches
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.06602

JWST COMPASS: A NIRSpec G395H Transmission Spectrum of Radius Valley Dweller TOI-260 b
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-3881/ae472f

GEMS JWST: HATS-75 b — A giant planet with a sub-solar metallicity atmosphere orbiting an M-dwarf
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.07268

Simulation of proton radiolysis of H2O and O2 ices with the Nautilus code
https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/full_html/2026/04/aa58232-25/aa58232-25.html

UV irradiation of ethanol-containing interstellar ice analogs- Photostability in CH3CH2OH:CO mixtures
https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/full_html/2026/04/aa57923-25/aa57923-25.html

Space debris contributions to night sky brightness- Comparing model predictions and implications for astronomical signal-to-noise ratios
https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/full_html/2026/04/aa57485-25/aa57485-25.html

April 8, 2026 Updates

Supported Ionic Liquid Membranes for Carbon Dioxide Management in Spacecraft Cabin Atmospheres
https://arc.aiaa.org/doi/10.2514/1.A36564

What it takes to solve the origin of life: An integrated review. Part 1–Experimental methods and data repositories
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666386426001189

Searching for Life-As-We-Don’t-Know-It: Mission-relevant Application of Assembly Theory for Exoplanet Life Detection
https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.11086

Atmospheric Supply of Hydrogen Cyanide Is Not the Rate-limiting Step for Prebiotic Chemistry across Rocky Exoplanets
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/ae505d

A Modular 3D-Printed Design to Investigate Prebiotic Chemical Systems in Hot Spring Pools
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.05223

The JWST Search for Earth-Luna Analogs: Upper Limits on Exomoons and Refined Ephemerides for TOI 700 d and e
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.05235

Two-stage disruption of resonant chains
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.05035

Scientific Validation of the SPARC4 Pipeline: Multi-band Imaging, Polarimetry, and Photometric Time Series for Improved Characterization of Transiting Exoplanets
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.05305

Star-planet magnetic interactions in photoevaporating exoplanets
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.06064

Gas Giants Formed by Gravitational Instability May Accrete Atmospheres with Super-Stellar Carbon to Oxygen Ratios
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.05178

April 07, 2026 updates

Spaceflight-Associated Epiphora Mechanisms and Countermeasures
https://asma.kglmeridian.com/view/journals/amhp/97/4/article-p272.xml

Protein Marker ST2 and Myocardial Mapping of Cosmonauts After Spaceflight
https://asma.kglmeridian.com/view/journals/amhp/97/4/article-p243.xml

Principles for Transitioning to Palliative Comfort Care in Exploration Spaceflight
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2214552426000544

From Aeromedical Evacuation to Planetary Habitation: A PubMed-Based Historical Mapping Review of Aerospace Nursing (1946–2025)
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nin.70098

Deep learning–driven hyperspectral imaging for drought stress detection in dragoon lettuce for space production
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0168169925014279?via%3Dihub

Assessment of PLATO Science Performance
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.04818

POSEIDON II: The Anti-Aligned Orbit of the Warm Neptune TOI-1710 A b
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.03364

Influence of CO versus CH4 on organic haze formation in atmospheres of diverse terrestrial exoplanets
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.03575

Behavior of biomolecules under high-pressure torsion and its implications for astrobiology
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08957959.2026.2649865

A tension between dust and gas radii: The role of substructures and external photoevaporation in protoplanetary disks
https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/full_html/2026/04/aa54500-25/aa54500-25.html

Deciphering chemical heritage: Isotopic study of methanol and other complex organic molecules in a solar-type protostar NGC 1333 IRAS 4A2
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2214552425001324

Two-stage disruption of resonant chains
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.05035

Lithium and the evolution of intermediate-mass T Tauri and Herbig stars. Rotation, accretion, and planets
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.05040

Super-Solar Metallicity and Tentative Evidence for Photochemistry on WASP-96b from JWST and Ground-Based VLT Transmission Spectroscopy
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.05049

A Comprehensive Atmospheric Retrieval Analysis of 22 James Webb Space Telescope Spectral Energy Distributions of Cool Brown Dwarfs
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.05104

Azimuthal Dust Polarization from Aerodynamically Aligned Grains as Evidence for the Streaming Instability in Protoplanetary Disks
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.05122

Gas Giants Formed by Gravitational Instability May Accrete Atmospheres with Super-Stellar Carbon to Oxygen Ratios
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.05178

The JWST Search for Earth-Luna Analogs: Upper Limits on Exomoons and Refined Ephemerides for TOI 700 d and e
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.05235

Scientific Validation of the SPARC4 Pipeline: Multi-band Imaging, Polarimetry, and Photometric Time Series for Improved Characterization of Transiting Exoplanets
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.05305

Investigation of Transit Timing and an Optical Transmission Spectrum of the Hot Jupiter WASP-11 b
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.05570

The Transit Timing and Transmission Spectrum of Hot Jupiter WASP-43 b from a decade of Multi-band Transit Follow-up Observations
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.05570

Star-planet magnetic interactions in photoevaporating exoplanets
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.06064

A cohort intervention to boost space health grant funding success for researchers from historically minoritized groups: 2022–2023
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41526-026-00564-6

Stability and transformation of interstellar amino acid precursors under simulated meteorite parent body conditions
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-journal-of-astrobiology/article/stability-and-transformation-of-interstellar-amino-acid-precursors-under-simulated-meteorite-parent-body-conditions/5F16575CB78DC10060D2B6CAD3366D7E

Machine learning isotope shifts in molecular energy levels
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022285226000160

Ponderomotive Ratchet Architecture for Interplanetary and Interstellar Transport: A Falsifiable Roadmap for Propellantless Propulsion
https://zenodo.org/records/19426803

Civilization Supply Theory (CST): Supply Chain Constraints on Interplanetary and Interstellar Expansion
https://zenodo.org/records/19422196

Geometric Origin of Rotational Anomalies in Interstellar Object 31/ATLAS: A 600-Cell Polytope Model
https://zenodo.org/records/19234009

The Spectral Architecture of Trojan Motion: Orbital Families, Invariant Tori, and the Future of Dust-Cloud Dynamics
https://zenodo.org/records/19342247

Supported Ionic Liquid Membranes for Carbon Dioxide Management in Spacecraft Cabin Atmospheres
https://arc.aiaa.org/doi/10.2514/1.A36564

Analytical Scaling of Relativistic Drag in the Interstellar Medium
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.00041

The Response of Planetary Atmospheres to the Impact of Icy Comets. III. Impact Driven Atmospheric Escape
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/ae5062