Related papers: Patchy Forsterite Clouds in the Atmospheres of Two…
Spectroscopic phase curves of hot Jupiters measure their emission spectra at multiple orbital phases, thus enabling detailed characterisation of their atmospheres. Precise constraints on the atmospheric composition of these exoplanets offer…
It is widely anticipated that the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will be transformative for exoplanet studies. It has even been suggested that JWST could provide the first opportunity to search for biosignatures in an alien atmosphere…
Upcoming space-based coronagraphic instruments in the next decade will perform reflected light spectroscopy and photometry of cool, directly imaged extrasolar giant planets. We are developing a new atmospheric retrieval methodology to help…
Observations of cooler atmospheres of super-Earths and Neptune sized objects often show flat transmission spectra. The most likely cause of this trend is the presence of aerosols (i.e. clouds and hazes) in the atmospheres of such objects.…
High-resolution JWST images of nearby spiral galaxies reveal polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) emission structures that trace molecular gas, including CO-dark regions. We identify ISM cloud structures in PHANGS-JWST 7.7 $\mu$m PAH maps…
Rocky exoplanet characterization has been a top priority for early James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) science operations. Several milestones have been achieved, including the most precise rocky planet transmission spectra measured to date,…
Recent JWST measurements allow access to the near-infrared spectrum of the sub-Neptune TOI-270 d, for which two different interpretations, a high-metallicity miscible envelope and a lower metallicity hycean world, are currently in conflict.…
The determination of atmospheric structure and molecular abundances of planetary atmospheres via spectroscopy involves direct comparisons between models and data. While varying in sophistication, most model-spectra comparisons fundamentally…
Determining whether temperate rocky exoplanets orbiting M stars retain atmospheres is currently a central goal of exoplanet astronomy. To this end, the James Webb Space Telescope has begun searching for atmospheres on these worlds with MIRI…
Exoplanetary atmospheric retrieval refers to the inference of atmospheric properties of an exoplanet given an observed spectrum. The atmospheric properties include the chemical compositions, temperature profiles, clouds/hazes, and energy…
We present a retrieval method based on Bayesian analysis to infer the atmospheric compositions and surface or cloud-top pressures from transmission spectra of exoplanets with general compositions. In this study, we identify what can…
The JWST provides exoplanet transit observations with unprecedented spectral coverage, enabling detailed atmospheric characterisation. However, systematics introduced during data reduction can lead to small but significant uncertainties…
Observed exoplanet transit spectra are usually retrieved using 1D models to determine atmospheric composition while planetary atmospheres are 3D. With the JWST and future space telescopes such as Ariel, we will be able to obtain…
Ultra-hot Jupiters (UHJs) offer exceptional opportunities for detailed atmospheric characterization via emission spectroscopy. We present a comprehensive analysis of the dayside atmosphere of WASP-19b$\unicode{x2014}$one of the…
In recent years, it has become clear that a substantial fraction of transiting exoplanets have some form of aerosol present in their atmospheres. Transit spectroscopy - mostly of hot Jupiters, but also of some smaller planets - has provided…
With a scheduled launch in October 2018, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is expected to revolutionise the field of atmospheric characterization of exoplanets. The broad wavelength coverage and high sensitivity of its instruments will…
The advent of JWST has marked a new era in exoplanetary atmospheric studies, offering higher-resolution data and greater precision across a broader spectral range than previous space-based telescopes. Accurate analysis of these datasets…
We present the first results from applying the spectral inversion technique in the cloudy L dwarf regime. Our new framework provides a flexible approach to modelling cloud opacity which can be built incrementally as the data requires, and…
I present the results of a program to spectrophotometrically monitor the L1.5 dwarf 2MASSW J1145572+231730 to identify the cause of photospheric variability in ultra cool dwarfs. Plausible candidates are magnetically-induced star spots and…
Isolated brown dwarfs provide remarkable laboratories for understanding atmospheric physics in the low-irradiation regime, and can be observed more precisely than exoplanets. As such, they provide a glimpse into the future of high-SNR…