Related papers: Modeling Pluto's Minimum Pressure: Implications fo…
We investigate the impact of photochemical hazes and disequilibrium gases on the thermal structure of hot-Jupiters, using a detailed 1-D radiative-convective model. We find that the inclusion of photochemical hazes results in major heating…
The small satellites of the Pluto system (Styx, Nix, Kerberos, and Hydra) have very low surface escape velocities, and impacts should therefore eject a large amount of material from their surfaces. We show that most of this material then…
Predicting the rate of escape and thermal structure of Pluto's upper atmosphere in preparation for the New Horizons Spacecraft encounter in 2015 is important for planning and interpreting the expected measurements. Having a moderate Jeans…
We propose a mechanism for the oxidation of gaseous CO into CO2 occurring on the surface mineral hematite (Fe2O3(s)) in hot, CO2-rich planetary atmospheres, such as Venus. This mechanism is likely to constitute an important source of…
Ocean worlds, or icy bodies in the outer solar system that have or once had subsurface liquid water oceans, are among the most compelling topics of astrobiology. Typically, confirming the existence of a subsurface ocean requires close…
The absorption signals of metastable He in HD 209458b and several other exoplanets can be explained via escaping atmosphere model with a subsolar He/H ratio. The low abundance of helium can be a result of planet formation if there is a…
We present the modeling of partial frequency redistribution (PRD) effects for the fluorescent emission lines of molecular hydrogen, the general computational approximations, and the applications to planetary atmospheres, as well as…
We report on a variety of standard techniques used by New Horizons including a solar ultraviolet occultation, ultraviolet airglow observations, and high-phase look-back particulate search imaging to search for an atmosphere around Pluto's…
Photochemical hazes are expected to form and significantly contribute to the chemical and radiative balance of exoplanets with relatively moderate temperatures, possibly in the habitable zone of their host star. In the presence of humidity,…
A time-variable 1D photochemical model is used to study the distribution of stratospheric hydrocarbons as a function of altitude, latitude, and season on Uranus and Neptune. The results for Neptune indicate that in the absence of…
Jupiter was imaged during the Science Demonstration of the MCAO Demonstrator (MAD) at the European Southern Observatory's UT3 Very Large Telescope unit. Io and Europa were used as natural guide stars on either side of Jupiter, separated…
We perform modeling investigations to aid in understanding the atmospheres and composition of small planets of ~2-4 Earth radii, which are now known to be common in our galaxy. GJ 1214b is a well studied example whose atmospheric…
Relatively little is understood about the atmospheric composition of temperate to warm exoplanets (equilibrium temperature $T_{\rm eq}<$ 1000 K), as many of them are found to have uncharacteristically flat transmission spectra. Their…
The current Venus climate is largely regulated by globally-covered concentrated sulfuric acid clouds from binary condensation of sulfuric acid (H2SO4) and water (H2O). To understand this complicated H2SO4-H2O gas-cloud system, previous…
The distribution of a pure condensible planetary atmosphere in equilibrium with a surface reservoir is revisited employing the energy budget of the climate system, emphasizing the atmospheric horizontal latent heat transport. This…
The transmission spectra of exoplanet atmospheres observed with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) in the near-infrared range (1.1-1.65$\mu$m) frequently show evidence for some combination of clouds and hazes. Identification of systematic…
The immiscibility of hydrogen-helium mixture under the temperature and pressure conditions of planetary interiors is crucial for understanding the structures of gas giant planets (e.g., Jupiter and Saturn). While the experimental probe at…
Understanding the surface temperature and interior structure of cold-to-temperate sub-Neptunes is critical for assessing their habitability, yet direct observations are challenging. In this study, we investigate the impact of water…
Hot Jupiters are the most studied and easily detectable exoplanets for transit observations.However, the correlation between the atmospheric flow and the emission spectra of such planets is still not understood. Due to huge day-night…
Recognizing whether a planet can support life is a primary goal of future exoplanet spectral characterization missions, but past research on habitability assessment has largely ignored the vastly different conditions that have existed in…