LPL COLLOQUIUM: Exoplanetary Atmospheres and the JWST Revolution

Dr. Johnathan Fortney, Professor, Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California, Santa Cruz

When

3:45 – 4:45 p.m., Oct. 10, 2023

Where

Abstract: In this talk I will showcase new observations of transiting planets, directly imagined planets, and brown dwarfs from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), along with new modeling work to understand these observations. For the first time, JWST has allowed high signal-to-noise spectra for these objects over a broad infrared wavelength range. Giant planet atmospheres appear typically metal-enriched compared to their parent stars, which provides new insight on the planet formation process. The roles of atmospheric mixing and photochemistry, which drive atmospheres away from chemical equilibrium molecular abundances, are ubiquitous in these atmospheres, as had been suggested from previous generations of atmosphere models. Lastly, I will discuss early observations of the hottest planet in the TRAPPIST-1 system of 7 Earth sized planets, a system which is targeted by many early JWST programs. All of these observations expand our phase phase of planetary atmospheric physics and chemistry, and help us place our solar system in context.

 More about Dr. Jonathan Fortney

 Zoom guidelines and information

As a reminder, please keep yourself muted during the meeting unless you are speaking. If you have an important clarification question, please raise the “blue hand” in the Participant list before asking or you can ask a question in Chat window. For non-urgent questions, please wait until the Q/A time following the presentation.

For those viewing the colloquium in room 308, refreshments will be served in the Kuiper atrium at 3:30 p.m.

***Refreshments are not permitted in the seminar room.***

Contacts

Bertha K. Orosco