Related papers: Using helium 10830 {\AA} transits to constrain pla…
Absorption lines with high blue-shifted velocities are frequently found in the ultraviolet (UV) and X-ray spectra of luminous active galactic nuclei (AGNs). This implies that high-velocity winds/outflows are common in AGNs. In order to…
Aims. We used realistic three-dimensional (3D) radiative hydrodynamical (RHD) simulations from the Stagger-grid and synthetic images computed with the radiative transfer code Optim3D to provide interferometric observables to extract the…
Among highly irradiated exoplanets, some have been found to undergo significant hydrodynamic expansion traced by atmospheric escape. To better understand these processes in the context of planetary evolution, we propose NIGHT (the…
We present theoretical wavelength-dependent transit light curves for the giant planet HD209458b based on a number of state of the art 3D radiative hydrodynamical models. By varying the kinematic viscosity in the model we calculate…
Exoplanets which are detected using the radial velocity technique have a well-known ambiguity of their true mass, caused by the unknown inclination of the planetary orbit with respect to the plane of the sky. Constraints on the inclination…
The currently feasible method of detection of Earth-mass planets is transit photometry, with detection probability decreasing with a planet's distance from the star. The existence or otherwise of short-period terrestrial planets will tell…
We report high precision spectrophotometric observations of four planetary transits of HD 209458, in the region of the sodium resonance doublet at 589.3 nm. We find that the photometric dimming during transit in a bandpass centered on the…
The planetary exospheres are poorly known in their outer parts, since the neutral densities are low compared with the instruments detection capabilities. The exospheric models are thus often the main source of information at such high…
The helium absorption triplet at a wavelength of 10,833 \AA\ has been proposed as a way to probe the escaping atmospheres of exoplanets. Recently this feature was detected for the first time using Hubble Space Telescope (HST) WFC3…
The atmospheric composition of transiting exoplanets can be characterized during transit by spectroscopy. For the transit of an Earth twin, models predict that biogenic $O_2$ and $O_3$ should be detectable, as well as water vapour, a…
A variety of terrestrial planets with different physical parameters and exotic atmospheres might plausibly exist outside our Solar System, waiting to be detected by the next generation of space-exploration missions. Some of these planets…
Observations of periodic stellar activity near the transit phase of a close-in exoplanet provide evidence of star-planet magnetic interactions (SPMI), similar to the magnetic coupling between Jupiter and its moons. Comparing the power…
Colour-Magnitude Diagrams provide a convenient way of comparing populations of similar objects. When well populated with precise measurements, they allow quick inferences to be made about the bulk properties of an astronomic object simply…
The detection of hot atomic hydrogen and heavy atoms and ions at high altitudes around close-in extrasolar giant planets (EGPs) such as HD209458b imply that these planets have hot and rapidly escaping atmospheres that extend to several…
Photoevaporative models predict that the lower edge of the Neptune desert is sculpted by atmospheric mass loss. However, the stellar high energy fluxes that power hydrodynamic escape and set predicted mass loss rates can be uncertain by…
We present Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations of the magnetic interactions between a solar type star and short period hot Jupiter exoplanets, using the publicly available MHD code PLUTO. It has been predicted that emission due to…
With over 1800 planets discovered outside of the Solar System in the past two decades, the field of exoplanetology has broadened our perspective on planetary systems. Research priorities are now moving from planet detection to planet…
Atmospheric escape in exoplanets has traditionally been observed using hydrogen Lyman-$\alpha$ and H-$\alpha$ transmission spectroscopy, but more recent detections have utilised the metastable helium triplet at 1083$~$nm. Since this feature…
The recent transit observation of HD 209458 b - an extrasolar planet orbiting a sun-like star - confirmed that it is a gas giant and determined that its orbital inclination is 85 degrees. This inclination makes possible investigations of…
(Abridged) The upper atmospheres of close-in gas giant exoplanets are subjected to intense heating/tidal forces from their parent stars. Atomic/ionized hydrogen (H) layers are sufficiently rarefied that magnetic pressure may dominate gas…