Thursday, February 22, 2024 at 3:30 pm

JILA auditorium

Caroline Morley, UT Austin

"Towards Observations of True Solar System Analogs: Into a New Era of Exoplanet Characterization with JWST"

Abstract:

We stand at an incredible time in exoplanet science, about to characterize worlds outside the solar system in great detail. The exquisite capabilities of JWST allow us to see the atmospheres of planets from super-Jupiters to sub-Neptunes to Earths. I will discuss two aspects of exoplanet atmosphere science as it stands in early 2024, as we watch this revolution begin. First, I’ll discuss our path to observing true Jupiter analogs, which takes us through observations of the coldest brown dwarfs and directly-imaged planets. I’ll highlight some discoveries from the first cycle of JWST observations of cold brown dwarfs, including detections of deuterium and possible aurorae. Next, I’ll discuss how atmosphere loss may be sculpting the atmospheres of small planets, with huge implications for the next five years of studying Earth-sized planets with JWST. I will discuss the next 10 years of exoplanet atmosphere science will bring, to understand the breadth of data arriving in our inboxes each week, and translate that data into a physical picture of planet formation and evolution.

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