Publications (36)
Survival and dynamics of rings of co-orbital planets under perturbations
Sean N. Raymond, Dimitri Veras, Matthew S. Clement +3
In co-orbital planetary systems, two or more planets share the same orbit around their star. Here we test the dynamical stability of co-orbital rings of planets perturbed by outsid…
A decreased probability of habitable planet formation around low-mass stars
Sean N. Raymond, John Scalo, Victoria Meadows
Smaller terrestrial planets (< 0.3 Earth masses) are less likely to retain the substantial atmospheres and ongoing tectonic activity probably required to support life. A key elemen…
Habitable Zones Around Main-Sequence Stars: New Estimates
Ravi kumar Kopparapu, Ramses Ramirez, James F. Kasting +7
Identifying terrestrial planets in the habitable zones (HZs) of other stars is one of the primary goals of ongoing radial velocity and transit exoplanet surveys and proposed future…
The Open-Source Photochem Code: A General Chemical and Climate Model for Interpreting (Exo)Planet Observations
Nicholas F. Wogan, Natasha E. Batalha, Kevin Zahnle +7
With the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope, we are firmly in the era of exoplanet atmosphere characterization. Understanding exoplanet spectra requires atmospheric chemical…
Detecting Land with Reflected Light Spectroscopy to Rule Out Waterworld O Biosignature False Positives
Anna Grace Ulses, Joshua Krissansen-Totton, Tyler D. Robinson +3
The search for life outside our solar system is at the forefront of modern astronomy, and telescopes such as the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) are being designed to identify b…
Discriminating Between Cloudy, Hazy and Clearsky Exoplanets Using Refraction
Amit Misra, Victoria Meadows
We propose a method to distinguish between cloudy, hazy and clearsky (free of clouds and hazes) exoplanet atmospheres that could be applicable to upcoming large aperture space and…
3D modeling of GJ1214b's atmosphere: vertical mixing driven by an anti-Hadley circulation
Benjamin Charnay, Victoria Meadows, Jérémy Leconte
GJ1214b is a warm sub-Neptune transiting in front of a nearby M dwarf star. Recent observations indicate the presence of high and thick clouds or haze whose presence requires stron…
Coupled Photochemical-Climate Modeling of Plausible Tenuous Outgassed Atmospheres on the TRAPPIST-1 Planets
Megan Gialluca, Victoria Meadows, Andrew Lincowski +4
Available JWST observations TRAPPIST-1 system have suggested that several of the planets are likely airless, or possess a very tenuous atmosphere. However, the high atmospheric esc…
Photosynthetic Fluorescence from Earth-Like Planets around Sun-Like and Cool Stars
Yu Komatsu, Yasunori Hori, Masayuki Kuzuhara +8
Remote sensing of the Earth has demonstrated that photosynthesis is traceable as the vegetation red edge (VRE), which is the steep rise in the reflection spectrum of vegetation, an…
The Effects of Refraction on Transit Transmission Spectroscopy: Application to Earth-like Exoplanets
Amit Misra, Victoria Meadows, Dave Crisp
We quantify the effects of refraction in transit transmission spectroscopy on spectral absorption features and on temporal variations that could be used to obtain altitude-dependen…
Habitable Evaporated Cores: Transforming Mini-Neptunes into Super-Earths in the Habitable Zones of M Dwarfs
Rodrigo Luger, Rory Barnes, Eric Lopez +3
We show that photoevaporation of small gaseous exoplanets ("mini-Neptunes") in the habitable zones of M dwarfs can remove several Earth masses of hydrogen and helium from these pla…
Constellations of co-orbital planets: horseshoe dynamics, long-term stability, transit timing variations, and potential as SETI beacons
Sean N. Raymond, Dimitri Veras, Matthew S. Clement +3
Co-orbital systems contain two or more bodies sharing the same orbit around a planet or star. The best-known flavors of co-orbital systems are tadpoles (in which two bodies' angula…
The Star-Planet Activity Research CubeSat (SPARCS): A Mission to Understand the Impact of Stars in Exoplanets
David R. Ardila, Evgenya Shkolnik, Paul Scowen +14
The Star-Planet Activity Research CubeSat (SPARCS) is a NASA-funded astrophysics mission, devoted to the study of the ultraviolet (UV) time-domain behavior in low-mass stars. Given…
The inner edge of the habitable zone for synchronously rotating planets around low-mass stars using general circulation models
Ravi kumar Kopparapu, Eric T. Wolf, Jacob Haqq-Misra +5
Terrestrial planets at the inner edge of the habitable zone of late-K and M-dwarf stars are expected to be in synchronous rotation, as a consequence of strong tidal interactions wi…
Is the Pale Blue Dot unique? Optimized photometric bands for identifying Earth-like exoplanets
Joshua Krissansen-Totton, Edward W. Schwieterman, Benjamin Charnay +4
The next generation of ground and space-based telescopes will image habitable planets around nearby stars. A growing literature describes how to characterize such planets with spec…
The UV-SCOPE Mission: Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Characterization Of Planets and their Environments
David R. Ardila, Evgenya Shkolnik, John Ziemer +22
UV-SCOPE is a mission concept to determine the causes of atmospheric mass loss in exoplanets, investigate the mechanisms driving aerosol formation in hot Jupiters, and study the in…
The Effect of a Strong Stellar Flare on the Atmospheric Chemistry of an Earth-like Planet Orbiting an M dwarf
AntÃgona Segura, Lucianne Walkowicz, Victoria Meadows +2
Main sequence M stars pose an interesting problem for astrobiology: their abundance in our galaxy makes them likely targets in the hunt for habitable planets, but their strong chro…
The Third Option: Color Phase Curves to Characterize the Atmospheres of Temperate Rocky Exoplanets
Drake Deming, Andrew Lincowski, Laura Kreidberg +6
Detecting and characterizing the atmospheres of rocky exoplanets has proven to be challenging for JWST. Transit spectroscopy of the TRAPPIST-1 planets has been impacted by the effe…
Onboard Dynamic Image Exposure Control for the Star-Planet Activity Research CubeSat (SPARCS)
Tahina Ramiaramanantsoa, Judd D. Bowman, Evgenya L. Shkolnik +19
The Star-Planet Activity Research CubeSat (SPARCS) is a 6U CubeSat under development to monitor the flaring and chromospheric activity of M dwarfs at near-ultraviolet (NUV) and far…
The TRAPPIST-1 JWST Community Initiative
Michaël Gillon, Victoria Meadows, Eric Agol +10
The upcoming launch of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) combined with the unique features of the TRAPPIST-1 planetary system should enable the young field of exoplanetology to…
White Paper on Phototrophic Biosignatures: Research Priorities for the Search for Life on Other Worlds
Nancy Y. Kiang, Christopher Gisriel, Robert E. Blankenship +32
Photosynthesis is of prime interest in the telescopic search for life beyond the Solar System, because, on Earth, oxygenic photosynthesis produces two strong "biosignatures," globa…
The Need for Laboratory Work to Aid in The Understanding of Exoplanetary Atmospheres
Jonathan J. Fortney, Tyler D. Robinson, Shawn Domagal-Goldman +31
Advancements in our understanding of exoplanetary atmospheres, from massive gas giants down to rocky worlds, depend on the constructive challenges between observations and models.…
Exo-Milankovitch Cycles II: Climates of G-dwarf Planets in Dynamically Hot Systems
Russell Deitrick, Rory Barnes, Cecilia Bitz +6
Using an energy balance model with ice sheets, we examine the climate response of an Earth-like planet orbiting a G dwarf star and experiencing large orbital and obliquity variatio…
A roadmap for the atmospheric characterization of terrestrial exoplanets with JWST
TRAPPIST-1 JWST Community Initiative, :, Julien de Wit +80
Ultra-cool dwarf stars are abundant, long-lived, and uniquely suited to enable the atmospheric study of transiting terrestrial companions with JWST. Amongst them, the most prominen…
A Non-Detection of Iron in the First High-Resolution Emission Study of the Lava Planet 55 Cnc e
Kaitlin C. Rasmussen, Miles H. Currie, Celeste Hagee +17
Close-in lava planets represent an extreme example of terrestrial worlds, but their high temperatures may allow us to probe a diversity of crustal compositions. The brightest and m…
Biosignatures from Earth-Like Planets Around M Dwarfs
Antigona Segura, James F. Kasting, Victoria Meadows +5
Coupled one-dimensional photochemical-climate calculations have been performed for hypothetical Earth-like planets around M dwarfs. Visible, near-infrared and thermal-infrared synt…
Community Report from the Biosignatures Standards of Evidence Workshop
Victoria Meadows, Heather Graham, Victor Abrahamsson +72
The search for life beyond the Earth is the overarching goal of the NASA Astrobiology Program, and it underpins the science of missions that explore the environments of Solar Syste…
Telescope to Observe Planetary Systems (TOPS): a high throughput 1.2-m visible telescope with a small inner working angle
Olivier Guyon, James R. P. Angel, Charles Bowers +20
The Telescope to Observe Planetary Systems (TOPS) is a proposed space mission to image in the visible (0.4-0.9 micron) planetary systems of nearby stars simultaneously in 16 spectr…
ESA Voyage 2050 White Paper: Detecting life outside our solar system with a large high-contrast-imaging mission
Ignas Snellen, Simon Albrecht, Guillem Anglada-Escude +64
In this white paper, we recommend the European Space Agency plays a proactive role in developing a global collaborative effort to construct a large high-contrast imaging space tele…
Using Dimers to Measure Biosignatures and Atmospheric Pressure for Terrestrial Exoplanets
Amit Misra, Victoria Meadows, Mark Claire +1
We present a new method to probe atmospheric pressure on Earthlike planets using (O2-O2) dimers in the near-infrared. We also show that dimer features could be the most readily det…
Strong Water Absorption in the Dayside Emission Spectrum of the Planet HD 189733b
Carl J. Grillmair, Adam Burrows, David Charbonneau +6
Recent observations of the extrasolar planet HD 189733b did not reveal the presence of water in the emission spectrum of the planet. Yet models of such 'Hot Jupiter' planets predic…
3D modeling of GJ1214b's atmosphere: formation of inhomogeneous high clouds and observational implications
Benjamin Charnay, Victoria Meadows, Amit Misra +2
The warm sub-Neptune GJ1214b has a featureless transit spectrum which may be due to the presence of high and thick clouds or haze. Here, we simulate the atmosphere of GJ1214b with…
The Center of Light: Spectroastrometric Detection of Exomoons
Eric Agol, Tiffany Jansen, Brianna Lacy +2
Direct imaging of extrasolar planets with future space-based coronagraphic telescopes may provide a means of detecting companion moons at wavelengths where the moon outshines the p…
The Star-Planet Activity Research CubeSat (SPARCS): Determining Inputs to Planetary Habitability
David R. Ardila, Evgenya Shkolnik, Paul Scowen +19
Seventy-five billion low-mass stars in our galaxy host at least one small planet in their habitable zone (HZ). The stellar ultraviolet (UV) radiation received by the planets is str…
Time-Resolved Photometry of the High-Energy Radiation of M Dwarfs with the Star-Planet Activity Research CubeSat (SPARCS)
Tahina Ramiaramanantsoa, Judd D. Bowman, Evgenya L. Shkolnik +18
Know thy star, know thy planet,... especially in the ultraviolet (UV). Over the past decade, that motto has grown from mere wish to necessity in the M dwarf regime, given that the…
Venus as a Nearby Exoplanetary Laboratory
Stephen R. Kane, Giada Arney, Paul Byrne +9
The key goals of the astrobiology community are to identify environments beyond Earth that may be habitable, and to search for signs of life in those environments. A fundamental as…