A long-standing issue in astrobiology is whether planets orbiting the most abundant type of stars, M-dwarfs, can support liquid water and eventually life. Often previous studies have raised doubts for the habitability of planets orbting M-stars, due to the intense stellar activity during the early evolution. Those include solar-wind-like eruptions of the host star that could erode the planetary atmosphere, as well as the intense XUV radiation from the host. A new study shows that subglacial liquid water that accumulates on the night-side of tidally locked planets may provide an answer, significantly extending the habitability region, in particular around M-dwarf stars, which are also the most promising for biosignature detection with the present and near-future technology.

This paper presents some results from a survey carried out by the UK’s Federation of Astronomical Societies to determine the effect of satellite constellations on (principally) amateur astronomers’ observations, their mitigation methods and the effectiveness of those methods.

The last day of the Kavli-IAU symposium featured a fourth discussion, which was about the future. The discussion focused on the changing landscape of scientific research and the allocation of funding and their implications for the ideal scientist of tomorrow. It was chaired by H. Landt, who was joined by the four panellists E. Chatzichristou, J. R. A. Davenport, M. G. Edmunds and D. H. Grinspoon.

It is argued that a central challenge to the task of developing a foundational model for life lies within the implicit propositions of the Western scientific view. These propositions constrain thinking about the concept of life. Three implicit boundary conditions in particular - life as a property of a system, life as a purely biological phenomenon, and life as a binary concept - are identified, and it is suggested to replace them with three operational principles - synonymity of ’life’ with ’processes of change’; the foundation of change upon interaction; the recursion and integration of change over boundary conditions.

The UK is a nation with burgeoning ambitions for its space sector, which sits alongside a strong astronomical community embedded in major international science projects on the ground and in space. As the primary representative body for UK astronomers, the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) has the challenge of navigating these sometimes competing priorities, working to persuade the British government to give the science of astronomy the protection it requires. This paper summarises where we are, recent policy developments, and thoughts on our future plans.

The ambitious deployment of swarms of spacecraft into Low Earth Orbit (LEO) has resulted in the rapid and increasing degradation of the night sky visibility. While commercial rationales exist for this rapid rise of large satellite constellations (so-called “megaconstellations”) their negative effects on astronomy, and other uses of the night sky, have implications on the future sustainable and equitable uses of outer space. The special regimes of international space law, as found in the 1967 Outer Space Treaty and subsequent United Nations treaties on space, as well as in national regulation, have not provided the requisite guidance. Likewise, the regime of international environmental law, arguably more robust, fails to provide necessary guidance on the protection of the night sky from anthropogenic space objects. This article surveys the regimes of space law and environmental law for commonalities and points of convergence in an effort to strengthen the protection of the night sky and to offer pathways forward for concerned stakeholders.

This paper will focus on the satellite threat to observational astronomy. As a member of the Satellite Constellation Working Group: Observatories Subgroup a recommendation was drafted for the Dark and Quiet Skies 2 Report, which shall be discussed. I shall also discuss SatHub activities and the education of observers about satellite constellations for regular citizens, amateur astronomers and professional astronomers and the outreach activities planned.

A groundbreaking collaboration in Canada has united astrophysicists, science educators, and teachers to create Exoplanets in the Classroom – a dynamic suite of K-12 resources designed to inspire the next generation of scientists. Featuring hands-on activities, practical slide decks, engaging videos, and profiles of trailblazing Canadian astronomers, this comprehensive collection of resources is freely accessible online in both French and English. Since 2021, the Trottier Institute for Research on Exoplanets (IREx) at the Université de Montréal, in partnership with Discover the Universe and other educational innovators, has crafted these resources with input from over one hundred Canadian teachers. This rigorous, iterative process ensures seamless integration into a wide range of subjects, from science to the arts, all while meeting Canadian K-12 curriculum standards.

These innovative resources provide educators with the tools to captivate students with the wonders of exoplanet research and the stories of diverse, local scientists at the forefront of discovery. Already tested and embraced by students and teachers from diverse backgrounds, these materials are now poised to inspire a global audience, offering astrophysicists and educators a powerful way to ignite curiosity and engage learners in classrooms and beyond.

Martian meteorites are currently our only existing samples from Mars. They are divided into two primary types, the shergottites and the nakhlite-chassignite types. The shergottites are by far the most abundant of the Martian meteorites. Apatite in particular is the only volatile bearing phase in these and thus is crucial for understanding volatile cycles on Mars. The primary goal of the study is to understand the effects of shock metamorphism on the volatile content of apatite. In particular, looking at intergrown apatite-merrillite grains to observe the Cl variation within apatite and to determine if the merrillite is in fact merrillite or if its tuite. Here we used various chemical analyses to accurately map the mineralogy of shergottite NWA 7397 to learn more about volatile content and shock effects to constrain its petrogenesis.

For NWA 7397, what we focused on was the phosphates. Mainly on the calcium phosphates, apatite (Ca5[PO4]3[F, CL, OH]) and merrillite (Ca9Na(Fe, Mg)(PO4)7). We can identify apatite based on its volatile components (F and Cl) as part of its crystal structure which merrillite lacks. Apatite is, however, the only volatile bearing phase in shergottites, making it our only was to constrain water and Cl content of martian magmas and by extension martian mantle reservoirs. However, the volatile contents can be effected by shock ejection when the rock was blasted off the martian surface. This means we need to understand the effects of shock before using apatite to estimate magma volatile content. From our research so far we have been able to identify apatite and merrillite, but no tuite. This will require further analysis to identify tuite, if any is present.

Conway’s Game of Life is a cellular automaton noted for its rich, complex, and emergent behaviour, which seems qualitatively ‘lifelike’. It exists within a wider space of different rulesets of cellular automata, none of which have been found to display behaviours that seem as rich as Conway’s selected example. We present here a set of three quantitative tests for ‘lifelike’ behaviour, based on the critical brain theory, Shannon’s theory of information entropy and integrated information theory, all of which are successfully able to select Conway’s Game of Life as an outlier within this set, which is a non-biological analogue to the selection of a habitable planet or universe amongst a wider space of similar settings that cannot support the same kinds of living systems.

This paper engages with the conference themes of community engagement and awareness raising, through proposing narratives which provide alternative stories to the belief in unrestricted technological development. The plan to launch up to 400,000 satellites into Earth orbit is an example of unregulated corporate capitalism: many private corporations and governments are encouraging rapid growth of the space sector without sufficient consideration of broader and potentially consequences for Earth and space environments or the interests and welfare of the wider community. My question in this paper is how far sustainability narratives from the humanities and social sciences can assist in the attempts to limit pollution of the sky and near-Earth environment.

Commercial endeavours have already compromised our relationship with space. The Artemis Accords are creating a framework that will commercialize the Moon and further impact that relation. To confront that impact, a number of organizations have begun to develop new principles of sustainability in space, many of which are borne out of the capitalist and colonial frameworks that have harmed water, nature, peoples and more on Earth. Indigenous methodologies and ways of knowing offer different paths for living in relationship with space and the Moon. While Indigenous knowledges are not homogeneous, there are lessons we can use from some of common methods. In this talk we will review some Indigenous methodologies, including the concept of kinship and discuss how kinship can inform our actions both on Earth and in space.

Satellite constellation interference occurs across astronomical disciplines. We touch on the challenges for existing regulatory frameworks in radio astronomy, and present examples of interference from radio and γ-ray astronomy to optical and spectroscopic interference in ground-based and space-borne facilities. In particular, we discuss the impact of artificial satellites on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.), an Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescope array, as well as possible mitigation strategies for the European Southern Observatory 4-metre Multi-Object Spectrograph Telescope (ESO 4MOST). Furthermore, we shed light on how ground-based optical telescopes such as the Oukaimeden Observatory contribute to IAU Centre for the Protection of the Dark and Quiet Sky from Satellite Constellation Interference (IAU CPS) efforts that quantify satellite brightness.

Rubin observatory, and survey astronomy in general, will be greatly impacted by the proliferation of low Earth orbit satellite (LEOSat) constellations. Its large field of view guarantees that Rubin will observe satellite streaks in approximately every image passing through an average of 13 out of the camera’s 189 CCD detectors. The impact of satellites on our science scales with the number of satellites launched, and with satellite brightness.

SatHub is one of the four hubs of the IAU Centre for the Protection of the Dark and Quiet Sky from Satellite Constellation Interference (CPS). It focuses on observations, data analysis, software, and training materials to improve our understanding of the impact of satellite constellations on astronomy and observers worldwide. As a preface to more in-depth IAUS385 sessions, we gave a summary of some recent work by SatHub members and the current status of satellite constellations, including optical and radio observations. We shared how the audience can join or get more involved, e.g., via the CPS Slack for asynchronous collaboration. We also touched on what a future with hundreds of thousands of constellation satellites might look like.

This study presents geodynamic experiments within the outer ice shell of Ganymede to investigate the effects of partial melting into the convective layer, and trying to infer any correlation between internal processes and strain deformations in surface regions such as cryovolcanism and polar deposits. The numerical models were conducted performing a sensitive analysis of the internal dynamic for compressible fluids by varying the viscosity, ice shell thickness, pressure at the melting point of ice, and applying the Anelastic Liquid Approximation (ALA). Results show molten material under restricted geophysical parameters that could allow for emerging material from the subsurface ocean to the surface. These findings will support the objectives of the RIME instrument on board of the JUICE mission, as they point out specific conditions that may, in the future, help to have a better understanding of the internal mechanisms that transfer heat on the surface and modify the geomorphology and atmospheric processes.

FU Ori stars (FUors) are undergoing powerful luminosity outbursts of ∼100 L⊙ in magnitude and of several decades in duration. Such outbursts inevitably affect physical and chemical structure of the surrounding protoplanetary disk. Using astrochemical and radiative transfer modelling, we study the lasting impact of the outburst on disks with and without an envelope and how it changes flux in chosen molecular lines. We formulate a number of criteria indicative of a recent outburst activity based on the molecular emission, analyze the chemistry behind the flux change and apply the criteria to available observations of quiescent protoplanetary disks. The latter revealed ten objects with possible outbursts in the past and four of them satisfy multiple proposed criteria.

This paper studies instability of the in-plane equilibrium points (EPs) which lies on the line joining the main bodies in the frame of the restricted three-body problem with Poynting-Robertson (P-R) drag force and variable masses. The dynamical structures of the primaries and their mass variation are governed by the Gylden-Mestschersky problem (GMP) and the Mestschersky combined law (MCL), respectively, under the conditions that both primaries are radiation emitters with the Doppler shift and the absorption and subsequent re-emission of the incident radiation, considered. It is seen that there can be three, four and even up to six Collinear In-plane Equilibrium Points (CIEPs). Some are independent of the P-R drag while others depend on the mass parameter and P-R drag of the primaries. The stability of the CIEPs is investigated analytically and numerically for a dust grain particle in the gravitational field of all binary systems which covers most astronomical systems, and it is seen that all the CIEPs are unstable. Additionally, it is seen that the zero velocity curves (ZVC) around the CIEP L0, for all mass parameter do not exist as the P-R drag effects are annulled in the force function. Consequently, the resulting CIEP will be located on same point as the bigger primary, which in turns means that the force function will be undefined in this case. The stability of the CIEPs of the non-autonomous system which differ from those of the autonomized system by a function of time, are unstable as they do not converge as time tends to infinity. Our problem can be applied to the description of a dust grain in the gravitational field of stellar systems with radiation force and variable masses.

Modelling is essential for studies that quantify the impact from satellite downlinks on radio astronomy sites. To estimate this impact it is necessary to know not only the position and velocity of satellites but also their behaviour in the radio spectrum domain. As many large satellite constellations are using steerable beam antennas, deterministically predicting the transmitted power towards a defined direction (in this case where a radio telescope points) becomes an almost impossible task and therefore another approach has to be used. This work presents a method to simulate and estimate the percentiles of the radiation pattern of satellites with steerable beam patterns based on simulations and a comparison with measurements of Starlink satellites using the Onsala Twin Telescopes in Sweden.

An overview is presented of the activities of the ALMA Spectrum Management Office and the synergies with other entities that engage in similar scientific research activities or that develop actions aimed at the control and regulation of radio frequency emissions.