Dr. Lisa Dang, Colloquium in-person, PHY 308 and VIA ZOOM
Dr. Lisa Dang from the Université de Montréal will present a colloquium to the Department of Physics and Astronomy.
Talk Title and Abstract:
Exploring the Diversity of Distant Worlds: Characterizing Exoplanets and their Atmospheres
Although we will never get the same level of details for exoplanets as we do for Solar System bodies, the large diversity of exoplanets revealed by exoplanet hunting missions, e.g. Kepler and TESS, provide thousands of study cases to refine formation and evolution pathways as well as theories of how their climate is shaped by their environment. Even though Spitzer wasn’t designed for exoplanet study, it played a large role in setting the stage for its successors like JWST, the Nancy Grace Roman Space telescope and the Ariel Exoplanet Atmosphere Surveyor, and its contribution to the field of exoplanets turned out to be one of its greatest legacy. In particular, Spitzer carried out a phase curve survey of short-period exoplanets that enabled the investigation of physical properties that dictates the radiative and dynamical properties of their climate and later served as a microlens parallax satellite to survey exoplanets beyond the snow line via gravitational lensing. In this talk, I will present what we have learned from Spitzer phase curve observations of a variety of close-in planets from large hot Jupiters to small lava planets, as well as how it ties into the Spitzer Microlensing Campaign. More excitingly, I will also discuss the continuation of Spitzer’s legacy in the era of JWST, Roman, Ariel, and next-generation ground-based telescopes to answer long-standing questions about the formation and evolution of planetary systems.
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https://uwaterloo.zoom.us/j/98262726543?pwd=c21MR3lMSHFPR2RVdnBMQjJ5bktpQT09
Meeting ID: 982 6272 6543
Passcode: 961481
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