ASPCS
 
Title: Molecules in the Atmospheres of Extrasolar Planets
Volume: 450 Year: 2012 View this Volume on ADS
Editors: J. Beaulieu, S. Dieters, and G. Tinetti
Synopsis:
The science of extrasolar planets (exoplanets) is one of the most rapidly changing and exciting areas of astrophysics. Since 1995, the number of known exoplanets has increased by two orders of magnitude (700 planets have been detected and over 1000 more await confirmation). NASA’s Kepler mission has opened up the possibility of discovering Earth-like planets in the habitable zone around some of the 100,000 stars it is surveying during its lifetime. The new ESA-Gaia mission is expected to discover thousands of new exoplanets.
The observation of exoplanet atmospheres is now at the cutting edge of exoplanet science. For transiting exoplanets, this has proved to be feasible using the Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescopes and ground-based facilities. Molecules such as water-vapor, methane, carbon-monoxide and carbon-dioxide have been discovered for the first time in the atmosphere of an exoplanet. While most early exoplanet discoveries were hot giant planets, warm gaseous-rocky planets such as GJ 1214b are now within reach. Most recently, the first spectrum of a hot giant planet at a projected separation of 38 AU from its host star was observed with VLT’s adaptive optics coronagraph NACO.
The young exoplanets that high-perfromance adaptive optics instruments (VLT-SPHERE and the Gemini Planet Imager) are expected to find are likely to feature several molecular species. Several more important new facilities are planned for the coming decade (the James Webb Space Telescope,-the European Extremely Large Telescope, The Thirty Meter Telescope, and the Japanese SPICA infrared space telescope, for example). Other dedicated missions to spectroscopically characterize alien worlds are now being considered by NASA and ESA (FINESSE and EChO).
The main purpose of the conference was to convene different scientific communities: solar-system planetary scientists, brown dwarf and exoplanet observers and theoreticians, molecular spectroscopists, and instrument experts. The “exoplanet revolution” has indeed started and it has irreversibly changed our views about planets and stars, and the ways in which they are formed. This conference as described in these proceedings marks a milestone in that direction.
ISBN: 978-1-58381-782-7 eISBN: 978-1-58381-783-4

Paper Title Page Authors
Front Matter   
Front Matter J. Beaulieu, S. Dieters, and G. Tinetti
Conference Photos 1 J. Beaulieu, S. Dieters, and G. Tinetti
Part I. Planets in the Solar System: Overview   
The Composition of Planetary Atmospheres: An Historical Perspective 3 Lellouch, E.
The Molecular Ion H3+ in Emission in Planetary Atmospheres 19 Maillard, J.; Miller, S.
Part II. Exoplanet Atmospheres from Transit Observations   
Lessons Learned from Ground-based Transmission Spectroscopy of Extrasolar Planets 39 Snellen, I.; Albrecht, S.; de Mooij, E.; Poole, R. L.
The Search for Exomoons 47 Kipping, D. M.
Ground Based Imaging Spectroscopy of Transiting Extrasolar Planets 55 Angerhausen, D.; Krabbe, A.
Ground-based Detection of the Secondary Eclipse of TrES-3b 59 de Mooij, E.; Snellen, I.
Exoplanet Spectroscopy: The Hubble Case 63 Deroo, P.; Swain, M.; Vasisht, G.; Chen, P.; Tinetti, G.; Bouwman, J.; Angerhausen, D.; Yung, Y.
Part III. Exoplanet Atmospheric Dynamics   
Atmospheric Dynamics of Two Eccentric Transiting Planets: GJ 436b and HD 17156b 71 Lewis, N. K.; Showman, A. P.; Fortney, J. J.; Marley, M. S.; Freedman, R. S.
Part IV. Molecular Data-lists and Modelling   
The Acetylene Laboratory IR Spectrum: New Quantitative Studies 83 Jaccquemart, D.; Lacome, N.; Gomez, L.; MANDIN, J.
Collisional Line Profiles of Na Perturbed by H2 87 Allard, N. F.
VUV Photophysics of Prebiotic Molecules in the Context of the Search for Life on exoplanets 91 Leach, S.
Signatures of Water Clouds on Exoplanets: Numerical Simulations. 101 Karalidi, T.; Stam, D. M.; Keller, C. U.
On the Protoplanetary-disk Origin of the Atmospheres of Hot Super-Earths 105 Ikoma, M.
Part V. Brown Dwarfs   
The Brown Dwarf-Exoplanet Connection 113 Burgasser, A. J.
Radiation Hydrodynamics Simulations of Dust Clouds in the Atmospheres of Substellar Objects 125 Freytag, B.; Allard, F.; Homeier, D.; Ludwig, H.; Steffen, M.
Part VI. Terrestrial Exoplanets: Modelling, Habitability, and Detection of Biosignatures   
The Loss of Nitrogen-rich Atmospheres from Earth-like Exoplanets within M-star Habitable Zones 139 Lammer, H.; Lichtenegger, H. I. M.; Khodachenko, M. L.; Kulikov, Y. N.; Griessmeier, J.
EXOFIT: Bayesian Estimation of Orbital Parameters of Extrasolar Planets 147 Balan, S. T.; Lahav, O.
What could be observed in the case of Super-Ios and Hyper-Ios? 155 Briot, D.; Lellouch, E.; Schneider, J.
Part VII. The Future: Short and Long Term Missions and Instruments to Characterise Exoplanet Atmospheres   
Direct Imaging of Extrasolar Planets: Overview of Ground and Space Programs 163 Boccaletti, A.
The Potential of High Contrast Coronagraphy 173 Serabyn, E.
SPICA Coronagraph for the Direct Observation of Exo-Planets 181 Enya, K.; group, S. w.
Follow the Dust: Discovery of an Exosolar Planet in Fomalhaut's Debris Disk 191 Clampin, M.; Kalas, P.; Graham, J.; Chiang, E.
High-Contrast Imaging: A Wider View on Extrasolar Planetary Systems 199 Bonavita, M.; Claudi, R. U.; Tinetti, G.; Beuzit, J.; Chauvin, G.; Desidera, S.; Gratton, R.; Kasper, M.
High Contrast Imaging: A New Frontier for Exoplanets Search and Characterization 203 Claudi, R. U.; Bonavita, M.; Desidera, S.; Gratton, R.; Tinetti, G.; Beuzit, J.; Kasper, M.; Mordassini, C.
Detailed Spectroscopy of Exoplanets Using the New Worlds Observer 209 Cash, W.; Team, t. N. W. O.
Spectral Analysis of Atmospheres by Nulling Interferometry 219 Ollivier, M.; Jacquinod, S.
A Spectroscopic Method for Direct Detection of Exoplanets 229 Cubillos, P.; Rojo, P.; Fortney, J.
Detection of Extrasolar Comets 233 Hainaut, O. R.
Part VIII. The Reception   
The Reception 239 J. Beaulieu, S. Dieters, and G. Tinetti
Back Matter   
Back Matter 274 J. Beaulieu, S. Dieters, and G. Tinetti