Exoplanet Atmospheres
Name
Seager_Exoplanet Atmospheres.pdf
Size
5.18 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
f48f035cde9b96ae6795cb82d7976d74
Author(s)
Seager, Sara
Deming, Drake
Date Issued
June 2010
Journal
Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics
Publisher
Annual Reviews
Citation
Seager, Sara, and Drake Deming. “Exoplanet Atmospheres.” Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics 48.1 (2010): 631–672.
Version
Author's final manuscript
Abstract
At the dawn of the first discovery of exoplanets orbiting Sun-like stars in the mid-1990s, few believed that observations of exoplanet atmospheres would ever be possible. After the 2002 Hubble Space Telescope detection of a transiting exoplanet atmosphere, many skeptics discounted it as a one-object, one-method success. Nevertheless, the field is now firmly established, with over two dozen exoplanet atmospheres observed today. Hot Jupiters are the type of exoplanet currently most amenable to study. Highlights include: detection of molecular spectral features, observation of day-night temperature gradients, and constraints on vertical atmospheric structure. Atmospheres of giant planets far from their host stars are also being studied with direct imaging. The ultimate exoplanet goal is to answer the enigmatic and ancient question, “Are we alone?” via detection of atmospheric biosignatures. Two exciting prospects are the immediate focus on transiting super Earths orbiting in the habitable zone of M-dwarfs, and ultimately the spaceborne direct imaging of true Earth analogs.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-astro-081309-130837
