Related papers: Comparative Study of Planetary Atmospheres and Imp…
There are still many open questions regarding the nature of Uranus and Neptune, the outermost planets in the Solar System. In this review we summarize the current-knowledge about Uranus and Neptune with a focus on their composition and…
Gas giant exoplanets orbiting at close distances to the parent star are subjected to large radiation and stellar wind fluxes. In this paper, hydrodynamic simulations of the planetary upper atmosphere and its interaction with the stellar…
Future missions to Mars and Venus will make use of aerobraking and aerocapture in order to gain mass through the saving of fuel at planetary arrival. So far only aerobraking has been demonstrated, if the Mars Premier project has paved the…
The evolution of stars and planets is mostly controlled by the properties of their atmosphere. This is particularly true in the case of exoplanets close to their stars, for which one has to account both for an (often intense) irradiation…
It remains puzzling why, despite their similar nature, Jupiter and Saturn possess a prograde equatorial jet, whereas Uranus and Neptune have a retrograde one. To understand this discrepancy, we use a two-dimensional quasi-geostrophic model…
Although current sensitivity limits are such that true Solar System analogs remain challenging to detect, numerous planetary systems have been discovered that are very different from our own Solar System. The majority of systems harbor a…
The atmospheres of highly irradiated exoplanets are observed to undergo hydrodynamic escape. However, due to strong pressures, stellar winds can confine planetary atmospheres, reducing their escape. Here, we investigate under which…
Terrestrial planets in temperate orbits around very low mass stars are likely to have evolved in a very different way than solar system planets, and in particular Earth. However, because these are the first planets that are and will be…
Understanding the possible climatic conditions on rocky extrasolar planets, and thereby their potential habitability, is one of the major subjects of exoplanet research. Determining how the climate, as well as potential atmospheric…
We provide a brief review of many aspects of the planetary physics of hot Jupiters. Our aim is to cover most of the major areas of current study while providing the reader with additional references for more detailed follow-up. We first…
Warm Neptune- and sub-Neptune-sized exoplanets in orbits smaller than Mercury's are thought to have experienced extensive atmospheric evolution. Here we propose that a potential outcome of this atmospheric evolution is the formation of…
Since its discovery in the aurorae of Jupiter ~30 years ago, the H$_{3}^{+}$ ion has served as an invaluable probe of giant planet upper atmospheres. However, the vast majority of monitoring of planetary H$_{3}^{+}$ radiation has followed…
Impacts by rocky and icy bodies are thought to have played a key role in shaping the composition of solar system objects, including the Earth's habitability. Hence, it is likely that they play a similar role in exoplanetary systems. We…
The composition the atmosphere of Venus results from the integration of many processes entering into play over the entire geological history of the planet. Determining the elemental abundances and isotopic ratios of noble gases (He, Ne, Ar,…
The review aims to give an overview of atmospheric escape processes from exoplanets. I briefly discuss the physics of various escape processes responsible for atmospheric escape across different types of exoplanets. Transmission…
Imaging and resolved spectroscopy reveal varying environmental conditions in our dynamic solar system. Many key advances have focused on how these conditions change over time. Observatory-level commitments to conduct annual observations of…
Sub-Neptune planets are often modeled with a dense rocky or metal-rich interior beneath a thick hydrogen/helium (H/He) atmosphere; though their bulk densities could also be explained by a water-rich interior with a thin H/He atmosphere.…
We are investigating the possible origin of small-scale anomalies, like the annual stratospheric temperature anomalies. Unexpectedly within known physics, their observed planetary "dependency", does not match concurrent solar activity,…
The recent discoveries of terrestrial exoplanets and super-Earths extending over a broad range of orbital and physical parameters suggest that these planets will span a wide range of climatic regimes. Characterization of the atmospheres of…
We found evidence for critical internal heat values during significant geophysical transitions in the inner solar system planetary bodies in association with volcanism. From a simple rocky planet thermal evolution model, we could infer…