Related papers: Reflected-light Phase Curves with PICASO: A Kepler…
At optical wavelengths, an exoplanet's signature is essentially reflected light from the host star - several orders of magnitude fainter. Since it is superimposed on the star spectrum its detection has been a difficult observational…
Transmission spectra of exoplanetary atmospheres have been used to infer the presence of clouds/hazes. Such inferences are typically based on spectral slopes in the optical deviant from gaseous Rayleigh scattering or low-amplitude spectral…
Exoplanet transit spectroscopy enables the characterization of distant worlds, and will yield key results for NASA's James Webb Space Telescope. However, transit spectra models are often simplified, omitting potentially important processes…
Earth-like, potentially habitable exoplanets are prime targets in the search for extraterrestrial life. Information about their atmosphere and surface can be derived by analyzing light of the parent star reflected by the planet. We…
The RISTRETTO project is aiming to build an instrument that will detect the reflected light from close-by exoplanet. It is a two stage instrument: An extreme AO system in the visible, followed by a seven spaxel single mode High resolution…
Transmission spectroscopy enables the characterization of exoplanet atmospheres by probing absorption features in their terminator regions. In the optical, it is particularly sensitive to metal oxides and atomic species that can strongly…
Theories of stellar convective core overshoot can be examined through analysis of pulsating stars. Better accuracy can be achieved by obtaining external constraints such as those provided by observing pulsating stars in eclipsing binary…
The light scattered by an extrasolar Earth-like planet's surface and atmosphere will vary in intensity and color as the planet rotates; the resulting light curve will contain information about the planet's properties. Since most of the…
Recently acquired Hubble and Spitzer phase curves of the short-period hot Jupiter WASP-43b make it an ideal target for confronting theory with data. On the observational front, we re-analyze the 3.6 and 4.5 $\mu$m Spitzer phase curves and…
Ultra-hot Jupiters present extreme atmospheric phenomena not found in the Solar System. These planets' daysides experience strong temperature inversions, molecular species (including H2) dissociate, and magnetism disrupts their atmospheric…
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…
Future direct-imaging exoplanet missions such as WFIRST/AFTA, Exo-C, and Exo-S will measure the reflectivity of exoplanets at visible wavelengths. The exoplanets to be observed will be located further away from their parent stars than is…
Reverberation mapping offers one of the best techniques for studying the inner regions of QSOs. It is based on cross-correlating continuum and emission-line light curves. New time-resolved optical surveys will produce well sampled light…
Modeling based on differentiable programming holds great promise for astronomy, enabling advanced techniques such as gradient-based posterior sampling and optimization. This paradigm motivated us to develop ExoJAX (Kawahara et al. 2022),…
A space telescope capable of high-contrast imaging has been recognized as the avenue toward finding terrestrial planets around nearby Sun-like stars and characterizing their potential habitability. It is thus essential to quantify the…
Ultra-hot Jupiters have recently attracted interest from observers and theoreticians alike, as they provide observationally accessible test cases. We apply a hierarchical modelling approach as a virtual laboratory to study cloud formation…
In the near-future, atmospheric characterization of Earth-like planets in the habitable zone will become possible via reflectance spectroscopy with future telescopes such as the proposed LUVOIR and HabEx missions. While previous studies…
Clouds have an important role in the atmospheres of planetary bodies. It is expected that, like all the planetary bodies in our solar system, exoplanet atmospheres will also have substantial cloud coverage, and evidence is mounting for…
Methods: 12CO emission is imaged in position and position-velocity space analyzed statistically, and then compared with maps of total reddening and with models of the C+ - CO transition in H2-bearing diffuse clouds. Results: Around Zeta…
The depth of a secondary eclipse contains information of both the thermally emitted light component of a hot Jupiter and the reflected light component. If the dayside atmosphere of the planet is assumed to be isothermal, it is possible to…