Exoplanets & Exomoons

A Catalogue Of Exoplanet Atmospheric Retrieval Codes

By Keith Cowing

Press Release

astro-ph.EP

March 25, 2023

Filed under astro-ph.EP, astronomy, atmosphere, atmospheric retrieval, Bayesian sampling algorithm, exoplanet, Machine learning, planetology, telescope

A Catalogue Of Exoplanet Atmospheric Retrieval Codes — What do planets outside our solar system, or exoplanets, look like? A variety of possibilities are shown in this illustration. Scientists discovered the first exoplanets in the 1990s. As of 2022, the tally stands at just over 5,000 confirmed exoplanets. Credit NASA/JPL-Caltech

Exoplanet atmospheric retrieval is a computational technique widely used to infer properties of planetary atmospheres from remote spectroscopic observations.

Retrieval codes typically employ Bayesian sampling algorithms or machine learning approaches to explore the range of atmospheric properties (e.g., chemical composition, temperature structure, aerosols) compatible with an observed spectrum.

However, despite the wide adoption of exoplanet retrieval techniques, there is currently no systematic summary of exoplanet retrieval codes in the literature.

Here, we provide a catalogue of the atmospheric retrieval codes published to date, alongside links to their respective code repositories where available. Our catalogue will be continuously updated via a Zenodo archive.

Ryan J. MacDonald, Natasha E. Batalha

Comments: 5 pages, 1 giant Table. Published in RNAAS. Live catalogue will be updated at this https URL
Subjects: Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP); Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM)
Cite as: arXiv:2303.12925 [astro-ph.EP] (or arXiv:2303.12925v1 [astro-ph.EP] for this version)
Journal reference: RNAAS (2023): 7, 54
Related DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3847/2515-5172/acc46a
Focus to learn more
Submission history
From: Ryan MacDonald
[v1] Wed, 22 Mar 2023 21:44:53 UTC (158 KB)
https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.12925
Astrobiology

Keith Cowing

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) 🖖🏻

Follow on Twitter