Searching for Trends in Atmospheric Compositions of Extrasolar Planets
Abstract
Since the first exoplanet was discovered decades ago, there has been a rapid evolution of the study of planets found beyond our solar system. A considerable amount of data has been collected on the nearly 3,779 confirmed exoplanets found to date. Recent findings regarding transmission spectroscopy, a method measuring a planet's upper atmosphere to determine its composition, have been published on a limited number of exoplanets. The aim of our work is to gather existing data on atmospheric planetary composition and search for potential trends in relation to the exoplanets' orbital and planetary properties. Due to their short periods and thicker atmospheres, hot-Jupiter type planets have been our first target population. Out of 78 cases with periods shorter than 3 Earth days and radius larger than 1 RJ, we found previously-published data on the atmospheres of 15 hot-Jupiters. Only 8 cases had an overlapping wavelength range that allowed comparisons: 480 - 900 nm. We will report our findings on this set, which will be publicly available on the Habitable Zone Gallery. This statistical comparative work will be of particular importance in the era of Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), whose synergy will result in a large inventory of atmospheric abundances.
- Publication:
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American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #233
- Pub Date:
- January 2019
- Bibcode:
- 2019AAS...23314032W