ASTRO 7671 - Seminar: Topics in Planetary Science - Exoplanets

Spring 2016 Topic: Exoplanets–New Frontiers

The Spring 2016 semester will cover the latest discoveries and current ideas on extrasolar planet search and characterization. Peter Gierasch and Lisa Kaltenegger will in addition provide input and their views on the latest results. Topics covered include: How universal are the planets in our own solar system? What can use as biosignatures and what are alternative biosignatures to Earth’s? How can we use theory and observation to best guide searches? Can we classify circulation regimes based only on the sparse data from only a few examples? How will rotation rate and atmospheric composition influence detectability of chemical absorption features? How does the geometry determine what you can detect of a planet and of its atmosphere? How well are the planetary parameters constrained especially considering the uncertainties in stellar data.