Whois & Analysis for astrobio.net

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for the civilian space program as well as aeronautics and aerospace research.

Astrobiology Magazine (exploring the solar system and beyond), or Astrobiology Mag, is an American NASA-sponsored international online popular science magazine containing popular science content, which refers to articles for the general reader on science and technology subjects.

The magazine reports on missions of NASA and other space agencies, as well as presents news of relevant research conducted by various institutions, universities, and non-profit groups.

In addition, the magazine provides a forum through which researchers and the general public can oversee the progress made in fields of study that are associated with the science of astrobiology.

According to Phys.org, the magazine has a "vast archive of stories covering a broad array of topics...

[and] covers science and nature topics relevant to space, innovation and biology, with an emphasis on the existence, detection and exploration of life in the universe".

The magazine was created by Helen Matsos, presently Chief Editor and Executive Producer, and began publication in 2000.

The Solar System is the gravitationally bound system comprising the Sun and the objects that orbit it, either directly or indirectly.

Of those objects that orbit the Sun directly, the largest eight are the planets, with the remainder being significantly smaller objects, such as dwarf planets and small Solar System bodies.

Of the objects that orbit the Sun indirectly, the moons, two are larger than the smallest planet, Mercury.

Abiogenesis (British English), biopoiesis, \\ or informally, the origin of life, is the natural process by which life arises from non-living matter, such as simple organic compounds.

Abiogenesis is studied through a combination of paleontology, laboratory experiments and extrapolation from the characteristics of modern organisms, and aims to determine how pre-life chemical reactions gave rise to life on Earth.

Life is a characteristic distinguishing physical entities having biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from those that do not, either because such functions have ceased, or because they never had such functions and are classified as .

Various forms of life exist, such as plants, animals, fungi, protists, archaea, and bacteria.

The criteria can at times be ambiguous and may or may not define viruses, viroids, or potential artificial life as "living".

Biology is the primary science concerned with the study of life, although many other sciences are involved.