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The Milky Way Galaxy is literally teeming with exoplanets; thousands of planets have been discovered, with thousands more planet candidates identified. Terrestrial-like planets are quite common around other stars, and are expected to be…
We investigate the effects of varying Saturn's orbit on the atmospheric circulation and surface methane distribution of Titan. Using a new general circulation model of Titan's atmosphere, we simulate its climate under four characteristic…
The closest stars that harbor potentially habitable planets are cool M-stars. Upcoming ground- and space-based telescopes will be able to search the atmosphere of such planets for a range of chemicals. To facilitate this search and to…
The TRAPPIST-1 system is comprised of seven Earth-sized rocky planets in small orbits around a Jupiter-sized ultracool dwarf star 12 parsec away. These planets cover an irradiation range similar to the range of the inner solar system. Three…
The emergence of the James Webb Space Telescope and the development of other advanced observatories (e.g., ELTs, LIFE and HWO) marks a pivotal moment in the quest to characterize the atmospheres of Earth-like exoplanets. Motivated by these…
Hydrostatic equilibrium is an excellent approximation for the dense layers of planetary atmospheres where it has been canonically used to interpret transmission spectra of exoplanets. Here we exploit the ability of high-resolution…
Clouds are prevalent in many of the exoplanet atmospheres that have been observed to date. For transiting exoplanets, we know if clouds are present because they mute spectral features and cause wavelength-dependent scattering. While the…
Synchronously orbiting, tidally-locked exoplanets with a dayside facing their star and a permanently dark nightside orbiting dim stars are prime candidates for habitability. Simulations of these planets often show the potential to maintain…
Ultra-hot Jupiters, an extreme class of planets not found in our solar system, provide a unique window into atmospheric processes. The extreme temperature contrasts between their day- and night-sides pose a fundamental climate puzzle: how…
TRAPPIST-1 is an ultracool dwarf (UCD) with a system of 7 terrestrial planets, at least three of which orbit in the habitable zone. The radio emission of such low-mass stars is poorly understood; few UCDs have been detected at radio…
Observational and theoretical studies of extragalactic radio sources have suggested that an inhomogeneous environment may be responsible for observed arm length asymmetries of jets and the properties of extended emission line regions in…
The evolution of Europa's water-product exosphere over its 85-hour day, based on current models, has not been shown to exhibit any diurnal asymmetries. Here we simulate Europa's exosphere using a 3-D Monte Carlo routine including, for the…
Observations of exoplanet atmospheres have shown that aerosols, like in the Solar System, are common across a variety of temperatures and planet types. The formation and distribution of these aerosols are inextricably intertwined with the…
Ozone is an important radiative trace gas in the Earth's atmosphere. The presence of ozone can significantly influence the thermal structure of an atmosphere, and by this e.g. cloud formation. Photochemical studies suggest that ozone can…
Exoplanets orbiting M-dwarfs within habitable zones are exposed to stellar environments more extreme than that terrestrial planets experience in our Solar System, which can significantly impact the atmospheres of the exoplanets and affect…
According to the Snowball Earth hypothesis, Earth has experienced periods of low-latitude glaciation in its deep past. Prior studies have used general circulation models (GCMs) to examine the effects such an extreme climate state might have…
The potential habitability of a terrestrial planet is usually defined by the possible existence of liquid water on its surface. The potential presence of liquid water depends on many factors such as, most importantly, surface temperatures.…
A number of transiting, potentially habitable Earth-sized exoplanets have recently been detected around several nearby M dwarf stars. These worlds represent important targets for atmospheric characterization for the upcoming NASA James Webb…
All three terrestrial planets with atmospheres support O3 layers of some thickness. While currently only that of Earth is substantial enough to be climatically significant, we hypothesize that ancient Mars may also have supported a thick O3…
Spectral features in the observed spectra of exoplanets depend on the composition of their atmospheres. A good knowledge of the main atmospheric processes that drive the chemical distribution is therefore essential to interpret exoplanetary…