Isolated planetary-mass objects share their mass range with planets but do not orbit a star. They lack the necessary mass to support fusion in their cores and thermally radiate their […]
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) have been detected throughout the universe where they play essential roles in the evolution of their environments.
![Spectral flux contributions over the range [1, 25] µm for a surface temperature of (Top) 250 K and (Bottom) 650 K. The white lines delineate the areas where the CFF per spectral band is higher than unity. The spectral range of LIFE and the vertical extent of the cloud are overplotted. -- astro-ph.EP](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/The-Impact-Of-Water-Clouds-On.png?resize=1200%2C716&ssl=1)
Non-transiting terrestrial planets will be accessible by upcoming observatories of which LIFE is an example.
This chapter provides an overview of the basic concepts foundational to atmospheric physics and chemistry. We discuss the retention of atmospheres against thermal evaporation and the global energy balance of […]
Warm Saturn type exoplanets orbiting M-dwarfs are particularly suitable for in-depth cloud characterisation through transmission spectroscopy due to their favourable stellar to planetary radius contrast.
With a temperature of ∼285 K WISE0855 is the coldest brown dwarf observed so far. Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) we obtained observations that allow us to characterize […]
Ariel is the fourth European Space Agency (ESA) Cosmic Vision medium class science mission which will use near- and mid-infrared spectroscopy to characterize the atmospheres of approximately 1000 exoplanets, thereby […]
Context. Clouds are ubiquitous in exoplanets’ atmospheres and play an important role in setting the opacity and chemical inventory of the atmosphere. Understanding clouds is a critical step in interpreting […]
Scientists have long speculated about the potential habitability of Venus, not at the 700K surface, but in the cloud layers located at 48–60 km altitudes, where temperatures match those found on […]
We investigate the impact of nightside cloud formation on the observable night-day contrast of tidally-locked terrestrial planet atmospheres.
