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Since 2013, observations of Neptune with small telescopes have resulted in several detections of long-lived bright atmospheric features that have also been observed by large telescopes such as Keck II or Hubble. The combination of both…
The chemical fingerprint of a planet reveals information about its formation history regarding when and where it formed. The water content of a planet can help to constrain its formation pathway: If the planet formed in the outer regions of…
Planets intermediate in size between the Earth and Neptune, and orbiting closer to their host stars than Mercury does the Sun, are the most common type of planet revealed by exoplanet surveys over the last quarter century. Results from…
The recent discovery of ``ultra-hot'' ($P < 1$ day) Neptunes has come as a surprise: some of these planets have managed to retain gaseous envelopes despite being close enough to their host stars to trigger strong photoevaporation and/or…
Hydrogen, helium, silicates, and iron are key building blocks of rocky and gas-rich planets, yet their chemical interactions remain poorly constrained. Using first-principles molecular dynamics and thermodynamic integration, we quantify…
In this study we investigated the interiors of rocky exoplanets in order to identify those that may have large quantities of water. We modelled the interiors of 28 rocky exoplanets, assuming four different layers - an iron core, a rock…
The brightness of Neptune is often found to be in accordance with an adiabatic interior, while the low luminosity of Uranus challenges this assumption. Here we apply revised equation of state data of hydrogen, helium, and water and compute…
With no analogues in the Solar System, the discovery of thousands of exoplanets with masses and radii intermediate between Earth and Neptune was one of the big surprises of exoplanet science. These super-Earths and sub-Neptunes likely…
Water-worlds are water-rich (>1 wt% H$_2$O) exoplanets. The classical models of water-worlds considered layered structures determined by the phase boundaries of pure water. However, water-worlds are likely to possess comet-like…
Neptune-sized extrasolar planets that orbit relatively close to their host stars -- often called "hot Neptunes" -- are common within the known population of exoplanets and planetary candidates. Similar to our own Uranus and Neptune,…
Investigating the fate of dissolved carbon dioxide under extreme conditions is critical to understanding the deep carbon cycle in the Earth, a process that ultimately influences global climate change. We used first-principles molecular…
We consider super-Earth sized planets which have a water mass fraction that is large enough to form an external mantle composed of high pressure water ice polymorphs and that lack a substantial H/He atmosphere. We consider such planets in…
Small planets ($\sim$1--3.9 $\Rearth$) constitute more than half of the inventory of the 4000-plus exoplanets discovered so far. Smaller planets are sufficiently dense to be rocky, but those with radii larger than $\sim$1.6 $\Rearth$ are…
The outer giant planets, Uranus and Neptune, pose a challenge to theories of planet formation. They exist in a region of the Solar System where long dynamical timescales and a low primordial density of material would have conspired to make…
We present a uniform analysis of the atmospheric escape rate of Neptune-like planets with estimated radius and mass (restricted to $M_{\rm p}<30\,M_{\oplus}$). For each planet we compute the restricted Jeans escape parameter, $\Lambda$, for…
Context. Planetary mass and radius data are showing a wide variety in densities of low-mass exoplanets. This includes sub-Neptunes, whose low densities can be explained with the presence of a volatile-rich layer. Water is one of the most…
Determining the depth of atmospheric winds in the outer planets of the Solar System is a key topic in planetary science. We provide constraints on these depths in Uranus and Neptune via the total induced Ohmic dissipation, due to the…
Titan, Saturn's largest moon, has a dense atmosphere, together with lakes and seas of liquid hydrocarbons. These liquid bodies, which are in polar regions and up to several hundred kilometres in diameter, generally have smooth surfaces…
Whether ice in cold cosmic environments is physically separated from the silicate dust or mixed with individual silicate moieties is not known. However, different grain models give very different compositions and temperatures of grains. The…
In the outer solar system beyond Jupiter, water ice is a dominant component of planetary bodies, and most solid objects in this region are classified as icy bodies. Icy bodies display a remarkable diversity of geological, geophysical, and…