Mapping Exoplanets
Nick Cowan
University of Washington, Seattle
Many of the extrasolar planets discovered so far are gas giants in
exceedingly short-period orbits. These "hot Jupiters" undergo extreme
irradiation and modest rotation rates compared to solar system planets
and therefore represent uncharted territory in atmospheric dynamics.
Fortunately, exoplanet observations are streaming down from the Spitzer
Space Telescope and should continue to do so even when it runs out of
coolant. I will review the current state of the art in exoplanet
photometry, and describe my efforts to invert thermal light curves into
rough weather maps of these exotic objects.
Date: | Mercredi, le 29 octobre 2008 |
Heure: | 16:00 |
Lieu: | Université McGill |
| Ernest Rutherford Physics Building, R.E. Bell Conference Room (room 103) |
Contact: | Ian Dobbs-Dixon |
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