Related papers: A 3D general circulation model for Pluto and Trito…
During the New Horizons spacecraft's encounter with Pluto, the Alice ultraviolet spectrograph conducted a series of observations that detected emissions from both the interplanetary medium (IPM) and Pluto. In the direction of Pluto, the IPM…
Simulations with the Max Planck Institute Martian general circulation model for Martian years 28 and 34 reveal details of the water "pump" mechanism and the role of gravity wave (GW) forcing. Water is advected to the upper atmosphere mainly…
The zonal flow in Jupiter's upper troposphere is organized into alternating retrograde and prograde jets, with a prograde (superrotating) jet at the equator. Existing models posit as the driver of the flow either differential radiative…
The regimes of possible global atmospheric circulation patterns in an Earth-like atmosphere are explored using a simplified GCM based on the University of Hamburg's Portable University Model for the Atmosphere with simplified (linear)…
The atmosphere of Triton was probed directly by observing a ground-based stellar occultation on 6 October 2022. This rare event yielded 23 positive light curves collected from 13 separate observation stations contributing to our campaign.…
A longstanding mystery about Jupiter has been the straightness and steadiness of its weather-layer jets, quite unlike terrestrial strong jets with their characteristic unsteadiness and long-wavelength meandering. The problem is addressed in…
The upper atmospheres of Mars and Titan, as well as those on many other planetary bodies, exhibit significant density variations vs. altitude that are interpreted as gravity waves. Such data is then used to extract vertical temperature…
Hot Jupiters receive intense irradiation from their stellar hosts. The resulting extreme environments in their atmospheres allow us to study the conditions that drive planetary atmospheric dynamics, e.g., global-scale winds. General…
Trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) in the outer Solar System are predominantly small, icy worlds long presumed to be atmosphereless except for the largest bodies. Until now, Pluto has been unique among TNOs in exhibiting a substantial…
Numerous land and space-based observations have established that Saturn has a persistent hexagonal flow pattern near its north pole. While observations abound, the physics behind its formation is still uncertain. Although several…
An effective method for detailed observation of the Solar System planets is the use of vehicles that can perform flight in their atmospheres, with the most promising of them being Flyers (aircraft for other planets atmospheres). Besides the…
Recent studies have shown that vertical enthalpy transport can explain the inflated radii of highly irradiated gaseous exoplanets. They have also shown that rotation can influence this transport, leading to highly irradiated, rapidly…
We use a statistical-thermodynamic model to investigate the formation and composition of noble-gas-rich clathrates on Pluto's surface. By considering an atmospheric composition close to that of today's Pluto and a broad range of surface…
The atmospheres of hot Jupiters lie in a dynamical regime without a solar system analogue. The strongly irradiated daysides reach temperatures sufficiently hot for substantial thermal ionization of atmospheric species, resulting in flows…
A giant collision is believed to be at the origin of the Pluto-Charon system. As a result, the initial orbit and spins after impact may have substantially differed from those observed today. More precisely, the distance at periapse may have…
Next-generation space telescopes will observe the atmospheres of rocky planets orbiting nearby M-dwarfs. Understanding these observations will require well-developed theory in addition to numerical simulations. Here we present theoretical…
Plumes are one of the most ubiquitous features seen at the limb in polar coronal holes and are considered to be a source of high density plasma streams to the fast solar wind. We analyze STEREO observations of plumes and aim to reinterpret…
We report results from monitoring Pluto's 0.8 to 2.4 {\mu}m reflectance spectrum with IRTF/SpeX on 65 nights over the dozen years from 2001 to 2012. The spectra show vibrational absorption features of simple molecules CH4, CO, and N2…
The Solar Wind Around Pluto (SWAP) instrument on NASA's New Horizon Pluto mission has collected solar wind observations en route from Earth to Pluto, and these observations continue beyond Pluto. Few missions have explored the solar wind in…
Polar vortices are common in the atmospheres of rapidly rotating planets [1-4]. On Earth and Mars they are tied to the surface and their existence follows the seasonal insolation cycle [1-3]. Venus is a slowly rotating planet but it is also…