Titan, the main satellite of Saturn, has an active cycle of methane in its troposphere. Among other evidence for a mechanism of evaporation at work on the ground, dry lakebeds […]
astro-ph.EP
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets
Detection of Exomoons Through Their Modulation of Exoplanetary Radio Emissions
In the Jupiter-Io system, the moon’s motion produces currents along the field lines that connect the moon to the Jupiter’s polar regions, where the radio emission is modulated by the […]
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets
Disk Inhomogeneities and the Origins of Planetary Systems
Recent high-resolution observations show that protoplanetary disks have various kinds of structural properties or inhomogeneities. These are the consequence of a mixture of a number of physical and chemical processes […]
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets
Detection of water in HAT-P-1b from Wide Field Camera 3 near-infrared spatial scan observations
We present Hubble Space Telescope near-infrared transmission spectroscopy of the transiting hot-Jupiter HAT-P-1b. We observed one transit with Wide Field Camera 3 using the G141 low-resolution grism to cover the […]
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets
Search for habitable terrestrial planet transiting red dwarf GJ 1214
High-precision eclipse spectrophotometry of transiting terrestrial exoplanets represents a promising path for the first atmospheric characterizations of habitable worlds and the search for life outside our solar system. The detection […]
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets
Same Frequency of Planets Inside and Outside Open Clusters of Stars
Most stars and their planets form in open clusters. Over 95 per cent of such clusters have stellar densities too low (less than a hundred stars per cubic parsec) to […]
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets
Chemical Kinetics on Extrasolar Planets
Chemical kinetics plays an important role in controlling the atmospheric composition of all planetary atmospheres, including those of extrasolar planets. For the hottest exoplanets, the composition can closely follow thermochemical-equilibrium […]
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones
Habitability of Exomoons at the Hill or Tidal Locking Radius
Moons orbiting extrasolar planets are the next class of object to be observed and characterized for possible habitability. Like the host-planets to their host-star, exomoons have a limiting radius at […]
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets
The NASA Exoplanet Archive: Data and Tools for Exoplanet Research
We describe the contents and functionality of the NASA Exoplanet Archive, a database and tool set funded by NASA to support astronomers in the exoplanet community. The current content of […]
Posted inHabitable Zones
Star-planet magnetic interaction and evaporation of planetary atmospheres
Stars interact with their close-in planets through radiation, gravitation, and magnetic fields. We investigate the energy input to a planetary atmosphere by reconnection between stellar and planetary magnetic fields and […]