5 Apr 2017

speaker: Caroline Morley, Sagan Fellow, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Date: Friday, April 7, 1:00pm
Location: 54-517
EAPS Planetary Iunch Colloquium Series (PICS)
Note the special day and time: Friday at 1:00 PM

Abstract:
Vast resources have been dedicated to characterizing the handful of planets with radii between Earth’s and Neptune’s that are accessible to current telescopes. Observations of their transmission spec- tra have been inconclusive and do not constrain the atmospheric composition. Of the small planets studied to date, all have radii in the near-IR consistent with being constant in wavelength, likely showing that these small planets are con- sistently enshrouded in thick hazes and clouds.
I will explore the types of clouds anhazes that can completely obscure transmission spectra. I will then show the effect that these thick clouds have on the thermal emission and reflected light spectra of small exoplanets. I present a path forward for understanding this class of small planets: by understanding the thermal emission and reflectivity of small planets, we can potentially break the degeneracies and better constrain the atmospheric compositions.