Related papers: The Hunt for Planet Nine: Atmosphere, Spectra, Evo…
Despite the low solar irradiation it receives, Neptune shows a very active atmosphere with some of the most intense dynamics observed in Solar System atmospheres. Characterizing the atmospheric temperature profiles of the planet is a key to…
Brown dwarf spectra offer vital testbeds for our understanding of the chemical and physical processes that sculpt substellar atmospheres. Recently, atmospheric retrieval approaches have been applied to a number of low-resolution (R~100)…
Understanding the planetary envelope composition of sub-Neptune-type exoplanets is challenging due to the inherent degeneracy in their interior composition scenarios. Particularly, the planetary envelope's H2O/H2 ratio, which can also be…
As the characterization of exoplanet atmospheres proceeds, providing insights into atmospheric chemistry and composition, a key question is how much deeper into the planet we might be able to see from its atmospheric properties alone. For…
The observations made during the Voyager 2 flyby have shown that the stratosphere of Uranus and Neptune are warmer than expected by previous models. In addition, no seasonal variability of the thermal structure has been observed on Uranus…
Concordant evidence points towards the existence of a ninth planet in the Solar System at more than $400\,$AU from the Sun. In particular, trans-Neptunian object orbits are perturbed by the presence of a putative gravitational source. Since…
Recent analysis of Gemini-North/NIFS H-band (1.45 - 1.8 $\mu$m) observations of Uranus, recorded in 2010, with recently updated line data has revealed the spectral signature of hydrogen sulphide (H$_2$S) in Uranus's atmosphere (Irwin et…
Transit spectroscopy of terrestrial planets around nearby M dwarfs is a primary goal of space missions in coming decades. 3-D climate modeling has shown that slow-synchronous rotating terrestrial planets may develop thick clouds at the…
We fit a sample of 49 R=6000 NIR (0.9 - 2.5 micron) T dwarf spectra obtained with Magellan's FIRE spectrograph with two different atmospheric model sets to compare the derived physical parameters such as Teff, log g, cloud opacity, and…
The vast diversity of planetary systems detected to date is defying our capability of understanding their formation and evolution. Well-defined volume-limited surveys are the best tool at our disposal to tackle the problem, via the…
The Kepler and TESS missions revealed a remarkable abundance of sub-Neptune exoplanets. Despite this abundance, our understanding of the nature and compositional diversity of sub-Neptunes remains limited, to a large part because atmospheric…
Transiting planets, such as HD209458b, offer a unique opportunity to scrutinize the planetary atmospheric content. Although molecular hydrogen is expected to be the main atmospheric constituent, H2 remains uncovered because of the lack of…
Recent studies of ultra hot-Jupiters suggested that their atmospheres could have thermal inversions due to the presence of optical absorbers such as TiO, VO, FeH and other metal hydride/oxides. However, it is expected that these molecules…
Future direct-imaging exoplanet missions such as WFIRST/AFTA, Exo-C, and Exo-S will measure the reflectivity of exoplanets at visible wavelengths. The exoplanets to be observed will be located further away from their parent stars than is…
Context: KELT-9 b exemplifies a newly emerging class of short-period gaseous exoplanets that tend to orbit hot, early type stars - termed ultra-hot Jupiters. The severe stellar irradiation heats their atmospheres to temperatures of $\sim…
Planet formation impacts exoplanet atmospheres by accreting metals in solid form, leading to atmospheric C/O and S/N ratios that deviate from their host stars. Recent observations indicate differing metal abundances in planetary atmospheres…
Brown dwarf spectra are rich in information revealing of the chemical and physical processes operating in their atmospheres. We apply a recently developed atmospheric retrieval tool to an ensemble of late T-dwarf (600-800K) near infrared…
We present new 3.6 and 4.5 micron secondary eclipse measurements for five cool (less than approximately 1000 K) transiting gas giant planets: HAT-P-15b, HAT-P-17b, HAT-P-18b, HAT-P-26b, and WASP-69b. We detect eclipses in at least one…
This paper outlines a simple approach to evaluate the atmospheric composition of hot rocky planets by assuming different types of planetary composition and using corresponding model calculations. To explore hot atmospheres above 1000 K, we…
Recent surveys have revealed that planets intermediate in size between Earth and Neptune ("super-Earths") are among the most common planets in the Galaxy. Atmospheric studies are the next step toward developing a comprehensive understanding…