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A correlation between giant-planet mass and atmospheric heavy elemental abundance was first noted in the past century from observations of planets in our own Solar System, and has served as a cornerstone of planet formation theory. Using…
High-resolution spectra of Pluto in the 1.66 um region, recorded with the VLT/CRIRES instrument in 2008 (2 spectra) and 2012 (5 spectra), are analyzed to constrain the spatial and vertical distribution of methane in Pluto's atmosphere and…
In the last decade, ground-based Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes have discovered about 175 very-high-energy (VHE; $E >$ 100 GeV) gamma-ray sources, with more to follow with the development of H.E.S.S. II and CTA. Nearly 40 of these…
The formation and evolution of haze layers in planetary atmospheres play a critical role in shaping their chemical composition, radiative balance, and optical properties. In the outer solar system, the atmospheres of Titan and the giant…
Simulations of Titan's atmospheric transmission and surface reflectivity have been developed in order to estimate how Titan's atmosphere and surface properties could affect performances of the Cassini radar experiment. In this paper we…
The UVS instrument on the Juno mission records far-ultraviolet reflected sunlight from Jupiter. These spectra are sensitive to the abundances of chemical species in the upper atmosphere and to the distribution of the stratospheric haze…
Stellar heating causes atmospheres of close-in exoplanets to expand and escape. These extended atmospheres are difficult to observe because their main spectral signature - neutral hydrogen at ultraviolet wavelengths - is strongly absorbed…
Uranus and Neptune, the so-called "ice giants", represent a fascinating class of planets. They are the outermost planets in the solar system with intermediate masses/sizes, complex non-polar magnetic fields, strong atmospheric winds, and…
Many of the exoplanets for which we can obtain the highest SNR transit spectra are tidally locked. The atmospheres on tidally-locked planets likely exhibit large differences between the day and night side of the planet, the poles, and the…
The Cassini spacecraft made a gravity assist flyby of Jupiter in December 2000. The Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS) acquired images of the planet that covered the visual range with filters sensitive to the distribution of clouds and hazes,…
Complex organic molecules serve as indicators of molecular diversity. Their detection on comets, planets, and moons has prompted inquiries into their origins, particularly the conditions conducive to their formation. One hypothesis suggests…
With high-resolution spectroscopy we can study exoplanet atmospheres and learn about their chemical composition, temperature profiles, and presence of clouds and winds, mainly in hot, giant planets. State-of-the-art instrumentation is…
The core accretion theory of planet formation has at least two fundamental problems explaining the origins of Uranus and Neptune: (1) dynamical times in the trans-Saturnian solar nebula are so long that core growth can take > 15 Myr, and…
Some sub-Neptune planets may host habitable conditions; for example "Hycean" worlds with H2 envelopes over liquid water oceans can maintain potentially hospitable pressures and temperatures at their surface. Recent JWST observations of…
Haze in Pluto's atmosphere was detected in images by both the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) and the Multispectral Visible Imaging Camera (MVIC) on New Horizons. LORRI observed haze up to altitudes of at least 200 km above Pluto's…
Planets residing within the hot-Neptune Desert are rare, and studying their atmospheres can provide valuable insights into their formation and evolutionary processes. We present the atmospheric characterization of the first known ultra-hot…
The sub-Neptune GJ 1214b has an infamously flat transmission spectrum, likely due to thick aerosols in its atmosphere. A recent JWST MIRI spectroscopic phase curve of GJ 1214 b added to this picture, suggesting a highly reflective and…
A clustering algorithm is applied to Cassini Imaging Science Subsystem continuum and methane band images of Saturns northern hemisphere to objectively classify regional albedo features and aid in their dynamical interpretation. The…
Noble gases are accreted to the giant planets as part of the gas component of the planet-forming disk. While heavier noble gases can separate from the evolution of the hydrogen-rich gas, helium is thought to remain at the protosolar H/He…
We present an analysis of seven primary transit observations of the hot Neptune GJ436b at 3.6, 4.5 and $8~\mu$m obtained with the Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) on the Spitzer Space Telescope. After correcting for systematic effects, we…