Related papers: Self-Consistent Modeling of Metastable Helium Exop…
The warm Neptune GJ436b was observed with HST/STIS at three different epochs in the stellar Ly-alpha line, showing deep, repeated transits caused by a giant exosphere of neutral hydrogen. The low radiation pressure from the M-dwarf host…
Photo-evaporative mass loss sculpts the atmospheric evolution of tightly-orbiting sub-Neptune-mass exoplanets. To date, models of the mass loss from warm Neptunes have assumed that the atmospheric abundances remain constant throughout the…
The search for water-rich Earth-sized exoplanets around low-mass stars is rapidly gaining attention because they represent the best opportunity to characterize habitable planets in the near future. Understanding the atmospheres of these…
It has been shown that proton ingestion episodes can happen in the formation of hot-subdwarf stars, and that neutron-capture processes are possible in those cases. Moreover, some helium-rich hot subdwarfs display extraordinarily high…
Absorption of high-energy radiation in planetary thermospheres is believed to lead to the formation of planetary winds. The resulting mass-loss rates can affect the evolution, particularly of small gas planets. We present 1D, spherically…
Spectroscopy across spatially resolved stellar surfaces reveals spectral line profiles free from rotational broadening, whose gradual changes from disk center toward the stellar limb reflect an atmospheric fine structure that is possible to…
The Decadal Survey on Astronomy and Astrophysics 2020 highlights the importance of advancing research focused on discovering and characterizing habitable worlds. In line with this priority, our goal is to investigate how planetary systems…
The discovery of super-Earth and mini-Neptune exoplanets means that atmospheric signals from low-mass, temperate exoplanets are being increasingly studied. The signal acquired as the planet transits its host star, known as the transit…
Accurate estimations of atmospheric properties of exoplanets from transmission spectra require understanding of degeneracies between model parameters and observations that can resolve them. We conduct a systematic investigation of such…
The nearby transiting planet HD 189733b was observed during three transits with the ACS camera of the Hubble Space Telescope in spectroscopic mode. The resulting time series of 675 spectra covers the 550-1050 nm range, with a resolution…
Atmospheric escape is an important factor shaping the exoplanet population and hence drives our understanding of planet formation. Atmospheric escape from giant planets is driven primarily by the stellar X-ray and extreme-ultraviolet (EUV)…
The escaping atmospheres of hydrogen driven by stellar X-ray and extreme Ultraviolet (XUV) have been detected around some exoplanets by the excess absorption of Ly$\alpha$ in far ultraviolet band. In the optical band the excess absorption…
Transmission spectroscopy is a key technique in the characterization of exoplanet atmospheres and has been widely applied to planets undergoing hydrodynamic escape. While a robust analytic theory exists for transmission spectra of…
We observed three transits of the extrasolar planet HD189733b in HI Lyman-alpha and in a few other lines in the ultraviolet with HST/ACS, in the search for atmospheric signatures. We detect a transit signature in the Lyman-alpha light curve…
Recently, properties of exoplanet atmospheres have been constrained via multi-wavelength transit observation, which measures an apparent decrease in stellar brightness during planetary transit in front of its host star (called transit…
Thousands of transiting exoplanets have already been detected orbiting a wide range of host stars, including the first planets that could potentially be similar to Earth. The upcoming Extremely Large Telescopes and the James Webb Space…
A complete reassessment of the HST observations of the transits of the extrasolar planet HD209458b has provided a transmission spectrum of the atmosphere over a wide range of wavelengths. Analysis of the NaI absorption line profile has…
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…
Atmospheric escape of close-in exoplanets can be driven by high energy radiation from the host star. The planetary outflows interacting with the stellar wind may generate observable transit signals that depend on the strength of the stellar…
Water, methane and carbon-monoxide are expected to be among the most abundant molecules besides molecular hydrogen in the hot atmosphere of close-in EGPs. Transit observations in the mid-IR allow the atmospheric content of transiting…