The Rise of the Vulcans

Abstract

Abstract. In this introductory review, I summarize the path from the initial 1995 radial-velocity discovery of hot Jupiters to the current rich panoply of investigations that are afforded when such objects are observed to transit their parent stars. Forty transiting exoplanets are now known, and the time for that population to double has dropped below one year. Only for these objects do we have direct estimates of their masses and radii, and can we (at the current time) undertake direct studies of the chemistries and dynamics of their atmospheres. Informed by the successes of hot Jupiter studies, I outline a path for the spectroscopic study of certain habitable exoplanets that obviates the need for direct imaging.

HELIOS-K: AN ULTRAFAST, OPEN-SOURCE OPACITY CALCULATOR FOR RADIATIVE TRANSFER

“…Measuring the spectra of exoplanetary atmospheres gives us a window into their thermal structure and chemical compositions (Brown 2001;Burrows et al 2001;Charbonneau 2009;Seager & Deming 2010;Madhusudhan et al 2014;Heng & Showman 2015). A crucial bridge between observation and inference is the use of theoretical models of atmospheric radiation, both in the form of "forward models" that adopt a set of fixed assumptions (e.g., solar composition) and retrieval models that attempt to invert for various properties from the data.…”

Is knowing another language as important as knowing ‘core’ subjects like mathematics or science

“…Canadian publication University Affairs featured an article entitled 'The rise of the monoglots' (Charbonneau 2008) discussing the disappearance of FL requirements for university graduation since the 1950s, noting that only 9% of universities still require FL study. Among other things, the article questions whether universities without FL requirements can prepare students to be 'excellent global citizens' who are both 'internationally knowledgeable and interculturally competent'.…”

Exoplanet Surveys at Universidad de Chile

“…The importance of studying transiting systems is further evidenced by the more than 900 publications that have been produced on the 2 brightest transiting planets, HD 209458b and HD 189733b, first detected by RV surveys (Charbonneau et al 1999;Bouchy et al 2005). Photometric, or broad band, observations are sensitive to small planet-to-star flux ratios.…”