Despite the existence of many short-period hot Jupiters, there is not one hot Neptune with an orbital period less than 2.5 days. Here we discuss a cluster analysis of the currently known 106 transiting exoplanets to investigate a possible explanation for this observation. We find two distinct clusters in the mass-density space, one with hot Jupiters with a wide range of orbital periods (0.8--114 days) and a narrow range of planet radii (1.2 +- 0.2 R_J); and another one with a mixture of super-Earths, hot Neptunes and hot Jupiters, exhibiting a surprisingly narrow period distribution (3.7 +- 0.8 days). These two clusters follow different distributions in the period-radius parameter plane. The branch of sub-Jupiter mass exoplanets is censored by the orbital period at large-radii: no planets with mass between 0.02--0.8 M_J or with radius between 0.25--1.0 R_J are known with P_orb<2.5 days. This clustering is not predicted by current theories of planet formation and evolution that we also review briefly.
Gas giants are believed to form by the accretion of hydrogen-helium gas around an initial protocore of rock and ice. The question of whether the rocky parts of the core dissolve into the fluid H-He layers following formation has significant implications for planetary structure and evolution. Here we use ab initio calculations to study rock solubility in fluid hydrogen, choosing MgO as a representative example of planetary rocky materials, and find MgO to be highly soluble in H for temperatures in excess of approximately 10000 K, implying significant redistribution of rocky core material in Jup…
Currently, the analysis of transmission spectra is the most successful technique to probe the chemical composition of exoplanet atmospheres. But the accuracy of these measurements is constrained by observational limitations and the diversity of possible atmospheric compositions. Here we show the UV-VIS-IR transmission spectrum of Jupiter, as if it were a transiting exoplanet, obtained by observing one of its satellites, Ganymede, while passing through Jupiter's shadow i.e., during a solar eclipse from Ganymede. The spectrum shows strong extinction due to the presence of clouds (aerosols) and h…
During their evolution, short-period exoplanets may lose envelope mass through atmospheric escape owing to intense XUV (X-ray and extreme ultraviolet) radiation from their host stars. Roche-lobe overflow induced by orbital evolution or intense atmospheric escape can also contribute to mass loss. To study the effects of mass loss on inner planet populations, we calculate the evolution of hot Jupiters considering mass loss of their envelopes and thermal contraction. Mass loss is assumed to occur through XUV-driven atmospheric escape and the following Roche-lobe overflow. The runaway effect of ma…
Hot Jupiters were the first exoplanets to be discovered around main sequence stars and astonished us with their close-in orbits. They are a prime example of how exoplanets have challenged our textbook, solar-system inspired story of how planetary systems form and evolve. More than twenty years after the discovery of the first hot Jupiter, there is no consensus on their predominant origin channel. Three classes of hot Jupiter creation hypotheses have been proposed: in situ formation, disk migration, and high eccentricity tidal migration. Although no origin channel alone satisfactorily explains …
By analysing a database of 26 years of observations of Jupiter with the Nancay Decameter Array, we unambiguously identify the radio emissions caused by the Ganymede-Jupiter interaction. We study the energetics of these emissions via the distributions of their intensities, duration, and power, and compare them to the energetics of the Io-Jupiter radio emissions. This allows us to demonstrate that the average emitted radio power is proportional to the Poynting flux from the rotating Jupiter's magnetosphere intercepted by the obstacle. We then generalize this result to the radio-magnetic scaling …
The results of three-dimensional numerical simulations of the gas dynamics of the atmosphere of a "hot Jupiter" exoplanet during the passage of a coronal mass ejection (CME) from the central star are presented. These computations assumed the parameters for the stellar wind and the CME to be typical of the solar values. The characteristic variations of the flow pattern are considered for quasi-closed and closed (but appreciably distorted by the gravitational influence of the star) gaseous envelopes of the exoplanet. It is shown that a typical CME is sufficient to tear off the outer part of an a…
We present a set of 109 new, high-precision Keck/HIRES radial velocity (RV) observations for the solar-type star HD 32963. Our dataset reveals a candidate planetary signal with a period of 6.49 $\pm$ 0.07 years and a corresponding minimum mass of 0.7 $\pm$ 0.03 Jupiter masses. Given Jupiter's crucial role in shaping the evolution of the early Solar System, we emphasize the importance of long-term radial velocity surveys. Finally, using our complete set of Keck radial velocities and correcting for the relative detectability of synthetic planetary candidates orbiting each of the 1,122 stars in o…
We acquired observations of a partial transit of Kepler-167e, a Jupiter-analog exoplanet on a 1,071-day orbit, well beyond its water ice line, with the Spitzer Space Telescope. The timing of the Spitzer transit is consistent with the ephemeris measured from the two transits observed previously by the Kepler Space Telescope. The Spitzer observation rules out the existence of transit timing variations (TTVs) of order hours to days that are known to exist for other long-period exoplanets. Such TTVs render transit follow-up efforts intractable due to the substantial observing time required and the…
From previous ground-based observations, the hot Jupiter exoplanet XO-6b was reported to exhibit apparently periodic transit timing variations (TTVs), with a semi-amplitude of 14 minutes and a period of about 450 days. These variations were interpreted as being due to a resonant perturbation between XO-6b and a hitherto unknown low-mass planet orbiting the same star. To understand this enigmatic planetary system better, we analysed three sectors of data, spanning over seven months, from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), which produces high-quality light curves that are well sui…
In this paper, the CoRoT Exoplanet Science Team announces its 14th discovery. Herein, we discuss the observations and analyses that allowed us to derive the parameters of this system: a hot Jupiter with a mass of $7.6 \pm 0.6$ Jupiter masses orbiting a solar-type star (F9V) with a period of only 1.5 d, less than 5 stellar radii from its parent star. It is unusual for such a massive planet to have such a small orbit: only one other known exoplanet with a higher mass orbits with a shorter period.
Clouds have an important role in the atmospheres of planetary bodies. It is expected that, like all the planetary bodies in our solar system, exoplanet atmospheres will also have substantial cloud coverage, and evidence is mounting for clouds in a number of hot Jupiters. In order to better characterise planetary atmospheres we need to consider the effects these clouds will have on the observed broadband transmission spectra. Here we examine the expected cloud condensate species for hot Jupiter exoplanets and the effects of various grain sizes and distributions on the resultant transmission spe…
Turbulent vertical transport driven by double-diffusive shear instabilities is identified as likely important in hot exoplanet atmospheres. In hot Jupiter atmospheres, the resulting vertical mixing appears sufficient to alleviate the nightside cold trap, thus facilitating the maintenance of nocturnal clouds on these planets. The strong level of vertical mixing expected near hot Jupiter thermal photospheres will impact their atmospheric chemistry and even their vertical structures where cloud radiative feedback proves important.
$\textit{Context.}$ The magnetized Solar System planets are strong radio emitters and theoretical studies suggest that the radio emission from nearby exoplanets in close-in orbits could reach intensity levels $10^{3}-10^{7}$ times higher than Jupiter's decametric emission. Detection of exoplanets in the radio domain would open up a brand new field of research, however, currently there are no confirmed detections at radio frequencies. $\textit{Aims.}$ We investigate the radio emission from Jupiter, scaled such that it mimics emission coming from an exoplanet, with low-frequency beam-formed obse…
Properties of planetary atmospheres, ionospheres, and magnetospheres are difficult to measure from Earth. Radio occultations are a common method for measuring these properties, but they traditionally rely on radio transmissions from a spacecraft near the planet. Here we explore whether occultations of radio emissions from a distant astrophysical radio source can be used to measure magnetic field strength, plasma density, and neutral density around planets. In a theoretical case study of Jupiter, we find that significant changes in polarization angle due to Faraday rotation occur for radio sign…
As a rule, the orbital velocities of "hot Jupiters," i.e., exoplanets with masses comparable to the mass of Jupiter and orbital semi-major axes less than 0.1 AU, are supersonic relative to the stellar wind, resulting in the formation of a bow shock. Gas-dynamical modeling shows that the gaseous envelopes around "hot Jupiters" can belong to two classes, depending on the position of the collision point. if the collision point is inside the Roche lobe of the planet, the envelopes have the almost spherical shapes of classical atmospheres, slightly distorted by the influence of the star and interac…
Rotational modulations are observed on brown dwarfs and directly imaged exoplanets, but the underlying mechanism is not well understood. Here, we analyze Jupiter's rotational light curves at 12 wavelengths from the ultraviolet (UV) to the mid-infrared (mid-IR). Peak-to-peak amplitudes of Jupiter's light curves range from sub percent to 4% at most wavelengths, but the amplitude exceeds 20% at 5 $\rm μm$, a wavelength sensing Jupiter's deep troposphere. Jupiter's rotational modulations are primarily caused by discrete patterns in the cloudless belts instead of the cloudy zones. The light-curve a…
Reflected light curves observed for exoplanets indicate bright clouds at some of them. We estimate how the light curve and total stellar heating of a planet depend on forward and backward scattering in the clouds based on Pioneer and Cassini spacecraft images of Jupiter and Saturn. We fit analytical functions to the local reflected brightnesses of Jupiter and Saturn depending on the planet's phase. These observations cover broad bands at 0.59-0.72 and 0.39-0.5 μm, and narrow bands at 0.938 (atmospheric window), 0.889 (CH4 absorption band), and 0.24-0.28 μm. We simulate the images of the planet…
We report the discovery of WASP-78b and WASP-79b, two highly-bloated Jupiter-mass exoplanets orbiting F-type host stars. WASP-78b orbits its V=12.0 host star (TYC 5889-271-1) every 2.175 days and WASP-79b orbits its V=10.1 host star (CD-30 1812) every 3.662 days. Planetary parameters have been determined using a simultaneous fit to WASP and TRAPPIST transit photometry and CORALIE radial-velocity measurements. For WASP-78b a planetary mass of 0.89 +/- 0.08 M_Jup and a radius of 1.70 +/- 0.11 R_Jup is found. The planetary equilibrium temperature of T_P = 2350 +/- 80 K for WASP-78b makes it one o…
The detectability of planetesimal impacts on imaged exoplanets can be measured using Jupiter during the 1994 comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 events as a proxy. By integrating the whole planet flux with and without impact spots, the effect of the impacts at wavelengths from 2 - 4 microns is revealed. Jupiter's reflected light spectrum in the near-infrared is dominated by its methane opacity including a deep band at 2.3 microns. After the impact, sunlight that would have normally been absorbed by the large amount of methane in Jupiter's atmosphere was instead reflected by the cometary material from the i…
In this research, 14 light curves of 10 hot Jupiter exoplanets available on Exoplanet Transit Database (ETD) were analyzed. We extracted the transit parameters using EXOFAST software. Finally, we compared the planet's radius parameter calculated by the EXOFAST with the value at the NASA Exoplanet Archive (NEA) using the confidence interval method. According to the results obtained from this comparison, there is an acceptable match for the planet's radius with NEA values. Also, based on the average value of 350 mm optics in this study, it shows that the results obtained using small telescopes c…
We report the discovery of WASP-34b, a sub-Jupiter-mass exoplanet transiting its 10.4-magnitude solar-type host star (1SWASP J110135.89-235138.4; TYC 6636-540-1) every 4.3177 days in a slightly eccentric orbit (e = 0.038 +/- 0.012). We find a planetary mass of 0.59 +/- 0.01 M_Jup and radius of 1.22 ^{+0.11}_{-0.08} R_Jup. There is a linear trend in the radial velocities of 55+/-4 m/s/y indicating the presence of a long-period third body in the system with a mass > 0.45 M_Jup at a distance of >1.2 AU from the host star. This third-body is either a low-mass star, white dwarf, or another planet. …
Using the POLISH instrument, I am unable to reproduce the large-amplitude polarimetric observations of Berdyugina et al. (2008) to the >99.99% confidence level. I observe no significant polarimetric variability in the HD 189733 system, and the upper limit to variability from the exoplanet is Delta_P < 7.9 x 10^(-5) with 99% confidence in the 400 nm to 675 nm wavelength range. Berdyugina et al. (2008) report polarized, scattered light from the atmosphere of the HD 189733b hot Jupiter with an amplitude of two parts in 10^4. Such a large amplitude is over an order of magnitude larger than expecte…
Observations of 43 complete transits of the hot Jupiter exoplanet HAT-P-32b using the MicroObservatory 0.15-m robotic telescope network covering a period of 7 years are presented. Compared with the most recent ephemeris for the system, the precision of the mid-transit times yielded a root-mean-square value from the predicted model of 3.0 min. The estimated system parameters based on EXOFAST modelling are broadly consistent with those of the default parameter values listed in the NASA Exoplanet Archive. An updated orbital period of 2.15000815 +/- 0.00000013 d and ephemeris of 2458881.71392 +/- …
The CoRoT satellite exoplanetary team announces its sixth transiting planet in this paper. We describe and discuss the satellite observations as well as the complementary ground-based observations - photometric and spectroscopic - carried out to assess the planetary nature of the object and determine its specific physical parameters. The discovery reported here is a `hot Jupiter' planet in an 8.9d orbit, 18 stellar radii, or 0.08 AU, away from its primary star, which is a solar-type star (F9V) with an estimated age of 3.0 Gyr. The planet mass is close to 3 times that of Jupiter. The star has a…
There has been increasing progress toward detailed characterization of exoplanetary atmospheres, in both observations and theoretical methods. Improvements in observational facilities and data reduction and analysis techniques are enabling increasingly higher quality spectra, especially from ground-based facilities. The high data quality also necessitates concomitant improvements in models required to interpret such data. In particular, the detection of trace species such as metal oxides has been challenging. Extremely irradiated exoplanets (~3000 K) are expected to show oxides with strong abs…
Thousands of transiting exoplanets have been discovered, but spectral analysis of their atmospheres has so far been dominated by a small number of exoplanets and data spanning relatively narrow wavelength ranges (such as 1.1 to 1.7 μm). Recent studies show that some hot-Jupiter exoplanets have much weaker water absorption features in their near-infrared spectra than predicted. The low amplitude of water signatures could be explained by very low water abundances, which may be a sign that water was depleted in the protoplanetary disk at the planet's formation location, but it is unclear whether …
The Near Earth Object Surveillance Satellite (NEOSSat) is a Canadian-led 15 cm Earth-orbiting telescope originally designed to detect asteroids near the Sun. Its design is however also suitable for the observation of exoplanetary transits of bright stars. We used the NEOSSat platform to perform followup observations of several Transiting Exoplanets Survey Satellite (TESS) targets, both as a demonstration of NEOSSat capabilities for exoplanetary science and improve the orbital ephemerides and properties of these exoplanet systems. We are able to recover / confirm the orbital properties of such …
Recently, we presented the detection of carbon monoxide in the transmission spectrum of extrasolar planet HD209458b, using CRIRES, the Cryogenic high-resolution Infrared Echelle Spectrograph at ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT). The high spectral resolution observations (R=100,000) provide a wealth of information on the planet's orbit, mass, composition, and even on its atmospheric dynamics. The new observational strategy and data analysis techniques open up a whole world of opportunities. We therefore started an ESO large program using CRIRES to explore these, targeting both transiting and non…
We present phase curves of Jupiter from 0-140 degrees as measured in multiple optical bandpasses by Cassini/ISS during the Millennium flyby of Jupiter in late 2000 to early 2001. Phase curves are of interest for studying the energy balance of Jupiter and understanding the scattering behavior of Jupiter as an exoplanet analog. We find that Jupiter is significantly darker at partial phases than an idealized Lambertian planet by roughly 25% and is not well fit by Jupiter-like exoplanet atmospheric models across all wavelengths. We provide analytic fits to Jupiter's phase function in several Cassi…
Aerosols have been found to be nearly ubiquitous in substellar atmospheres. The precise temperature at which these aerosols begin to form in exoplanets has yet to be observationally constrained. Theoretical models and observations of muted spectral features suggest that silicate clouds play an important role in exoplanets between at least 950 and 2,100 K. However, some giant planets are thought to be hot enough to avoid condensation altogether. Here, we present the near-UV transmission spectrum of an ultra-hot Jupiter, WASP-178b ($\sim$2,450~K), that exhibits significant NUV absorption. This s…
The distribution of eccentricities of warm giant exoplanets is commonly explained through planet--planet interactions, although no physically sound argument favours the ubiquity of such interactions. No simple, generic explanation has been put forward to explain the high mean eccentricity of these planets. In this paper, we revisit a simple, plausible explanation to account for the eccentricities of warm Jupiters: migration inside a cavity in the protoplanetary disc. Such a scenario allows to excite the outer eccentric resonances, a working mechanism for higher mass planets, leading to a growt…
We report on the discovery of a hot Jupiter-type exoplanet, CoRoT-17b, detected by the CoRoT satellite. It has a mass of $2.43\pm0.30$\Mjup and a radius of $1.02\pm0.07$\Rjup, while its mean density is $2.82\pm0.38$ g/cm$^3$. CoRoT-17b is in a circular orbit with a period of $3.7681\pm0.0003$ days. The host star is an old ($10.7\pm1.0$ Gyr) main-sequence star, which makes it an intriguing object for planetary evolution studies. The planet's internal composition is not well constrained and can range from pure H/He to one that can contain $\sim$380 earth masses of heavier elements.
According to the computations results obtained by Bisikalo et al. (2013b) for the gas-dynamical effect of stellar winds on exoplanet atmospheres, three types of gaseous envelopes can form around hot Jupiters: closed, quasi-closed, and open. The type of envelope that forms depends on the position of the frontal collision point (where the dynamical pressure of the wind is equal to the pressure of the surrounding atmosphere) relative to the Roche-lobe boundaries. Closed envelopes are formed around planets whose atmospheres lie completely within their Roche lobes. If the frontal collision point is…
Transit events of extrasolar planets offer a wealth of information for planetary characterization. However, for many known targets, the uncertainty of their predicted transit windows prohibits an accurate scheduling of follow-up observations. In this work, we refine the ephemerides of 21 Hot Jupiter exoplanets with the largest timing uncertainty. We collected 120 professional and amateur transit light curves of the targets of interest, observed with 0.3m to 2.2m telescopes, and analyzed them including the timing information of the planets discovery papers. In the case of WASP-117b, we measured…
Explaining the origin and evolution of exoplanetary "hot Jupiters" remains a significant challenge. One possible mechanism for their production is planet-planet interactions, which produces hot Jupiters from planets born far from their host stars but near their dynamical stability limits. In the much more likely case of planets born far from their dynamical stability limits, can hot Jupiters can be formed in star clusters? Our N-body simulations of planetary systems inside star clusters answer this question in the affirmative, and show that hot Jupiter formation is not a rare event. We detail …
The relative abundances of carbon and oxygen have long been recognized as fundamental diagnostics of stellar chemical evolution. Now, the growing number of exoplanet observations enable estimation of these elements in exoplanetary atmospheres. In hot Jupiters, the C/O ratio affects the partitioning of carbon in the major observable molecules, making these elements diagnostic of temperature structure and composition. Here we present measurements of carbon and oxygen abundances in 16 stars that host transiting hot Jupiter exoplanets, and compare our C/O ratios to those measured in larger samples…
We present calculations of the auroral radio powers expected from exoplanets with magnetospheres driven by an Earth-like magnetospheric interaction with the solar wind. Specifically, we compute the twin cell-vortical ionospheric flows, currents, and resulting radio powers resulting from a Dungey cycle process driven by dayside and nightside magnetic reconnection, as a function of planetary orbital distance and magnetic field strength. We include saturation of the magnetospheric convection, as observed at the terrestrial magnetosphere, and we present power law approximations for the convection …
The study of exoplanet atmospheres showed large diversity compared to the planets in our solar system. Especially Jupiter type exoplanets orbiting their host star in close orbits, the so-called hot and ultra-hot Jupiters, have been studied in detail due to their enhanced atmospheric signature. Due to their tidally locked status, the temperature difference between the day- and nightside triggers atmospheric winds which can lead to various fingerprints in the observations. Spatially resolved absorption lines during transit such as sodium (Na) could be a good tracer for such winds. Different work…
Atmospheric retrievals are now a standard tool to analyze observations of exoplanet atmospheres. This data-driven approach quantitatively compares atmospheric models to observations in order to estimate atmospheric properties and their uncertainties. In this paper, we introduce a new retrieval package, the PHOENIX Exoplanet Retrieval Analysis (PETRA). PETRA places the PHOENIX atmosphere model in a retrieval framework, allowing us to combine the strengths of a well-tested and widely-used atmosphere model with the advantages of retrieval algorithms. We validate PETRA by retrieving on simulated d…
We announce the discovery of the transiting planet CoRoT-13b. Ground based follow-up in CFHT and IAC80 confirmed CoRoT's observations. The mass of the planet was measured with the HARPS spectrograph and the properties of the host star were obtained analyzing HIRES spectra from the Keck telescope. It is a hot Jupiter-like planet with an orbital period of 4.04 days, 1.3 Jupiter masses, 0.9 Jupiter radii, and a density of 2.34 g cm-3. It orbits a G0V star with Teff=5945K, M*=1.09 Msun, R*=1.01 Rsun, solar metallicity, a lithium content of +1.45 dex, and an estimated age between 0.12 and 3.15 Gyr.…
Despite the severe bias of the transit method of exoplanet discovery toward short orbital periods, a modest sample of transiting exoplanets with orbital periods greater than 100 days is known. Long-term radial velocity (RV) surveys are pivotal to confirming these signals and generating a set of planetary masses and densities for planets receiving moderate to low irradiation from their host stars. Here, we conduct RV observations of Kepler-1514 from the Keck I telescope using the High Resolution Echelle Spectrometer. From these data, we measure the mass of the statistically validated giant ($1.…
Radial velocity (RV) surveys have discovered giant exoplanets on au-scale orbits with a broad distribution of eccentricities. Those with the most eccentric orbits are valuable laboratories for testing theories of high eccentricity migration. However, few such exoplanets transit their host stars thus removing the ability to apply constraints on formation from their bulk internal compositions. We report the discovery of Kepler-1704 b, a transiting 4.15 $M_{\rm J}$ giant planet on a 988.88 day orbit with the extreme eccentricity of $0.921^{+0.010}_{-0.015}$. Our decade-long RV baseline from the K…
We report the discovery of KELT-10b, the first transiting exoplanet discovered using the KELT-South telescope. KELT-10b is a highly inflated sub-Jupiter mass planet transiting a relatively bright $V = 10.7$ star (TYC 8378-64-1), with T$_{eff}$ = $5948\pm74$ K, $\log{g}$ = $4.319_{-0.030}^{+0.020}$ and [Fe/H] = $0.09_{-0.10}^{+0.11}$, an inferred mass M$_{*}$ = $1.112_{-0.061}^{+0.055}$ M$_{\odot}$ and radius R$_{*}$ = $1.209_{-0.035}^{+0.047}$ R$_{\odot}$. The planet has a radius R$_{P}$ = $1.399_{-0.049}^{+0.069}$ R$_{J}$ and mass M$_{P}$ = $0.679_{-0.038}^{+0.039}$ M$_{J}$. The planet has an…
In this paper we present three new extrasolar planets from the Qatar Exoplanet Survey (QES). Qatar-8b is a hot Saturn, with Mpl = 0.37 Mjup and Rpl = 1.3 Rjup, orbiting a solar-like star every Porb = 3.7 days. Qatar-9b is a hot Jupiter with a mass of Mpl = 1.2 Mjup and a radius of Rpl = 1 Rjup, in a Porb = 1.5 days orbit around a low mass, Mstar = 0.7 Msun, mid-K main-sequence star. Finally, Qatar-10b is a hot, Teq ~ 2000 K, sub-Jupiter mass planet, Mpl = 0.7 Mjup, with a radius of Rpl = 1.54 Rjup and an orbital period of Porb = 1.6 days, placing it on the edge of the sub-Jupiter desert.
Population studies of exoplanets are key to unlocking their statistical properties. So far the inferred properties have been mostly limited to planetary, orbital and stellar parameters extracted from, e.g., Kepler, radial velocity, and GAIA data. More recently an increasing number of exoplanet atmospheres have been observed in detail from space and the ground. Generally, however, these atmospheric studies have focused on individual planets, with the exception of a couple of works which have detected the presence of water vapor and clouds in populations of gaseous planets via transmission spect…
As an exoplanet transits its host star, some of the light from the star is absorbed by the atoms and molecules in the planet's atmosphere, causing the planet to seem bigger; plotting the planet's observed size as a function of the wavelength of the light produces a transmission spectrum. Measuring the tiny variations in the transmission spectrum, together with atmospheric modelling, then gives clues to the properties of the exoplanet's atmosphere. Chemical species composed of light elements$-$such as hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, sodium and potassium$-$have in this way been detected in the atmosph…
The largest and most close-in exoplanets would reflect enough star light to enable its ground-based photometric detection under the condition of a high to moderate albedo. We present the results of an observing campaign of secondary eclipse light curves of three of the most suitable exoplanet targets, WASP-43b, WASP-103b, and TrES-3b. The observations were conducted with meter-sized telescopes in the blue optical broadband filters Johnson B and Johnson V. We do not detect a photometric dimming at the moment of the eclipse, and derive a best-fit eclipse depth by an injection-recovery test. Thes…
NIRCam yells at cloud: JWST MIRI imaging can directly detect exoplanets of the same temperature, mass, age, and orbital separation as Saturn and Jupiter
We present 127 new transit light curves for 39 hot Jupiter systems, obtained over the span of five years by two ground-based telescopes. A homogeneous analysis of these newly collected light curves together with archived spectroscopic, photometric, and Doppler velocimetric data using EXOFASTv2 leads to a significant improvement in the physical and orbital parameters of each system. All of our stellar radii are constrained to accuracies of better than 3\%. The planetary radii for 37 of our 39 targets are determined to accuracies of better than $5\%$. Compared to our results, the literature ecce…
Exoplanets with substantial Hydrogen/Helium atmospheres have been discovered in abundance, many residing extremely close to their parent stars. The extreme irradiation levels these atmospheres experience causes them to undergo hydrodynamic atmospheric escape. Ongoing atmospheric escape has been observed to be occurring in a few nearby exoplanet systems through transit spectroscopy both for hot Jupiters and lower-mass super-Earths/mini-Neptunes. Detailed hydrodynamic calculations that incorporate radiative transfer and ionization chemistry are now common in one-dimensional models, and multi-dim…
In this paper we provide the first consideration of magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling at Jupiter-like exoplanets with internal plasma sources such as volcanic moons. We estimate the radio power emitted by such systems under the condition of near-rigid corotation throughout the closed magnetosphere, in order to examine the behaviour of the best candidates for detection with next generation radio telescopes. We thus estimate for different stellar X-ray-UV (XUV) luminosity cases the orbital distances within which the ionospheric Pedersen conductance would be high enough to maintain near-rigid cor…
The formation of gas-giant planets within the lifetime of a protoplanetary disk is challenging especially far from a star. A promising model for the rapid formation of giant-planet cores is pebble accretion in which gas drag during encounters leads to high accretion rates. Most models of pebble accretion consider disks with a monotonic, radial pressure profile. This causes a continuous inward flux of pebbles and inefficient growth. Here we examine planet formation in a disk with multiple, intrinsic pressure bumps. In the outer disk, pebbles become trapped near these bumps allowing rapid growth…
Saturn formed beyond the snow line in the primordial solar nebula that made it possible for it to accrete a large mass. Disk instability and core accretion models have been proposed for Saturn's formation, but core accretion is favored on the basis of its volatile abundances, internal structure, hydrodynamic models, chemical characteristics of protoplanetary disk, etc. The observed frequency, properties and models of exoplanets provide additional supporting evidence for core accretion. The heavy elements with mass greater than 4He make up the core of Saturn, but are presently poorly constraine…
