Related papers: Plan 9: Detecting Atmospheric Deterrence Against I…
Ozone ($\textrm{O}_3$) is important for the survival of life on Earth because it shields the surface from ionising ultraviolet (UV) radiation. However, the existence of $\textrm{O}_3$ in Earth's atmosphere is not always beneficial.…
Transmission spectroscopy provides a window to study exoplanetary atmospheres, but that window is fogged by clouds and hazes. Clouds and haze introduce a degeneracy between the strength of gaseous absorption features and planetary physical…
M dwarfs have long been prime targets in the search for habitable exoplanets, owing to their abundance in the galaxy and the relative ease of detecting Earth-sized worlds within their narrower habitable zones. Yet, these low-mass stars can…
Motivation: ESAs goal to detect biomarkers in Earth-like exoplanets in the Habitable Zone requires theoretical groundwork that needs to be done to model the influence of different parameters on the detectable biomarkers. We need to model a…
Current observations of the atmospheres of close-in exoplanets are predominantly obtained with two techniques: low-resolution spectroscopy with space telescopes and high-resolution spectroscopy from the ground. Although the observables…
A habitable exoplanet is a world that can maintain stable liquid water on its surface. Techniques and approaches to characterizing such worlds are essential, as performing a census of Earth-like planets that may or may not have life will…
Future observations of terrestrial exoplanet atmospheres will occur for planets at different stages of geological evolution. We expect to observe a wide variety of atmospheres and planets with alternative evolutionary paths, with some…
An important goal within the quest for detecting an Earth-like extrasolar planet, will be to identify atmospheric gaseous bio-signatures. Observations of the light transmitted through the Earth's atmosphere, as for an extrasolar planet,…
Atmospheric characterization of Earth-like exoplanets through reflected light spectroscopy is a key goal for upcoming direct imaging missions. A critical challenge in this endeavor is the accurate determination of planetary mass, which may…
Detection of an atmosphere around a terrestrial exoplanet will be a major milestone in the field, but our observational capacities are biased towards to tidally locked, close-in planets orbiting M-dwarf stars. The atmospheres of these…
Atmospheric dust plays an important role on the terrestrial climate, regulating the amount of solar radiation coming to the surface, affecting the development and the life time of the clouds and providing fundamental nutrients to the growth…
The growth of spectroscopic observations of exoplanetary systems allows the possibility of testing theoretical models and studying the interaction that exoplanetary atmospheres have with the wind and the energetic photons from the star. In…
Volatile loss from exoplanetary atmospheres and its possible implications for the longevity of habitable surface conditions is a topic of vigorous debate currently. The vast majority of the habitable zone terrestrial-like exoplanets known…
Here we advocate an observational strategy to help prioritize exoplanet observations. It starts with more easily obtained observational data, and ranks exoplanets for more difficult follow-up observations based on the likelihood of avoiding…
Atmospheric characterization of exoplanets using ground-based high-resolution transmission spectroscopy has traditionally focussed on large and close-in planets, such as hot Jupiters. In this work, we aim to extend this technique to smaller…
The next generation of telescopes will yield a substantial increase in the availability of high-resolution spectroscopic data for thousands of exoplanets. The sheer volume of data and number of planets to be analyzed greatly motivate the…
Infrared radiation emitted from a planet contains information about the chemical composition and vertical temperature profile of its atmosphere. If upper layers are cooler than lower layers, molecular gases will produce absorption features…
White dwarf planetary systems provide a unique way to measure the bulk composition of exoplanetary material. Extrasolar asteroids/comets/moons which have survived the evolution of their host star can end up in the atmosphere of the white…
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…
Since the discovery of the first extrasolar planet more than twenty years ago, we have discovered nearly four thousand planets orbiting stars other than the Sun. Current observational instruments (on board the Hubble Space Telescope,…