While scientists can calculate their size and mass, not much is currently
known about exoplanets» atmosphere.
Reflecting this our group started with a huge list of questions — close to a hundred of them, everything we wanted to
know about exoplanets.
Not exact matches
With
about 4,000
exoplanets known to exist so far, and with increasing technological capabilities, an exomoon discovery is now looming on the horizon.
The travel destinations they depict are further afield:
exoplanets in other solar systems,
about which we
know very little.
Basri: We've learned that we really don't
know what we're talking
about with respect to
exoplanets: how they form, what their distributions are, anything!
NESSI will focus on
about 100
exoplanets, ranging from massive versions of Earth, called super-Earths, to scorching gas giants
known as «hot Jupiters.»
An unsuccessful attempt to catch the Earth - like
exoplanet passing between its star and us means we still
know little
about its atmosphere and surface
That measurement was surprising because it doesn't match what astronomers
know about other Neptune - mass
exoplanets.
Known brown dwarfs have temperatures between 250 K to
about 2,500 K — completely overlapping with the temperatures of giant
exoplanets; the compositions of many brown dwarfs are likely very similar or identical to many of the giant
exoplanets.
These transiting
exoplanets are astronomical gold mines in the sense that we can learn a lot more
about them than other
known exoplanets.
If you want to
know more
about how the atmospheres of
exoplanets are detected by absorption or emission spectroscopy, visit Sara Seager's website.
The University of Exeter said today (May 15, 2017) that its researchers have taken their first, tentative steps to explore the potential climate of the nearest
known exoplanet, Proxima b. We've
known about this planet for less than a year, since August, 2016..