Aerosols and clouds in the atmosphere of HD 189733 b
Abstract
In the last two decades our view and understanding of planetary atmospheres has significantly expanded as a result of the detection and characterization of numerous exoplanets and of their atmospheres. Apart from the exotic chemical inventories observed in these objects, recent studies suggest that subsequent products of chemical evolution such as hazes (in the form of aerosols or/and clouds) can also exist in these atmospheres. Hazes can strongly influence the thermal structure of the atmosphere, the dynamics, and the photochemistry, as their equivalents in the solar system atmospheres have promptly demonstrated. Our goal is to investigate the processes leading to the formation of aerosols and clouds in exoplanet atmospheres with the use of detailed models of aerosol and cloud formation and evolution coupled with photochemical models of the atmosphere. We apply these models to the case of exoplanet HD 189733 b for which observations indicate the presence of heterogeneous opacities. Our results demonstrate that photochemical haze can have important implications for the interpretation of the available observations.
- Publication:
-
European Planetary Science Congress
- Pub Date:
- September 2017
- Bibcode:
- 2017EPSC...11..351L