Astrochemistry

Chemical Modeling of Exoplanet Atmospheres

By Keith Cowing
astro-ph.EP
June 25, 2014
Filed under , ,
Chemical Modeling of Exoplanet Atmospheres

The past twenty years have revealed the diversity of planets that exist in the Universe. It turned out that most of exoplanets are different from the planets of our Solar System and thus, everything about them needs to be explored.

Thanks to current observational technologies, we are able to determine some information about the atmospheric composition, the thermal structure and the dynamics of these exoplanets, but many questions remain still unanswered. To improve our knowledge about exoplanetary systems, more accurate observations are needed and that is why the Exoplanet Characterisation Observatory (EChO) is an essential space mission.

Thanks to its large spectral coverage and high spectral resolution, EChO will provide exoplanetary spectra with an unprecedented accuracy, allowing to improve our understanding of exoplanets. In this work, we review what has been done to date concerning the chemical modeling of exoplanet atmospheres and what are the main characteristics of warm exoplanet atmospheres, which are one of the main targets of EChO. Finally we will present the ongoing developments that are necessary for the chemical modeling of exoplanet atmospheres.

Olivia Venot, Marcelino Agundez (Submitted on 25 Jun 2014)

Comments: 9 pages, 6 figures, accepted in Experimental Astronomy, Special Issue EChO

Subjects: Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP) Cite as: arXiv:1406.6566 [astro-ph.EP]

(or arXiv:1406.6566v1 [astro-ph.EP] for this version)

Submission history From: Olivia Venot [v1] Wed, 25 Jun 2014 13:47:55 GMT (1450kb)

Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA Space Station Payload manager/space biologist, Away Teams, Journalist, Lapsed climber, Synaesthete, Na’Vi-Jedi-Freman-Buddhist-mix, ASL, Devon Island and Everest Base Camp veteran, (he/him) 🖖🏻