A forecast for high winds and clouds: Exoplanet atmospheres at low and high resolution

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• Tom Louden (Warwick)
• Wednesday 25 May 2016, 16:00-17:00
• Martin Ryle Seminar Room, Kavli Institute.

If you have a question about this talk, please contact Dr B.-O. Demory.

The study of exoplanet atmospheres has developed rapidly over the last few years, we are now reaching a point where enough hot jupiter atmospheres have been studied in detail that we can begin to perform comparative planetology to figure out the underlying processes.

WASP -52b is a low density Hot jupiter with a particularly high transmission signal that makes it an excellent target for transmission spectroscopy. Using ACAM on the WHT we recovered a transmission spectrum between 400 and 900 nm on two separate nights. A Gaussian Process method was used to remove common mode systematics. Despite having a similar radiation environment to HD 189733b, WASP -52b presents a very different transmission spectrum, hinting at the complexity and variety of planetary atmospheres.

Secondly, I will show that high resolution spectroscopy present an opportunity to spatially resolve the atmospheres of exoplanets. I will present evidence that the atmosphere of the hot Jupiter HD 189733b has a strong eastward motion, with red-shifted absorption detected on the leading limb of the planet and blue-shifted absorption on the trailing limb. The results are based on a time-resolved model of the sodium transmission spectrum measured with the HARPS spectrograph. Our results demonstrate the feasibility of studying the weather patterns of distant planets from the ground.

This talk is part of the Exoplanet Seminars series.

This talk is included in these lists:

• Combined External Astrophysics Talks DAMTP
• Cosmology, Astrophysics and General Relativity
• Exoplanet Seminars
• Institute of Astronomy Talk Lists
• LCLU Departmental Talks
• Martin Ryle Seminar Room, Kavli Institute

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