Terrestrial Exoplanets > Eliza Kempton
The atmosphere of the
transiting super-earth GJ1214b

Eliza Kempton
University of California at Santa Cruz, USA
Abstract: The planet GJ1214b is the first known transiting super-Earth requiring a significant atmosphere to explain its observed mass and radius. Models for the structure of this planet predict that it likely possesses a H-He envelope of at least 0.05% of the total mass of the planet. However, models with a significant water steam atmosphere are also permitted, given the planet's measured average density. We explore a range of possible atmospheres for the planet, and we present transmission and emission spectra for each of these cases. We find that, if GJ1214b possesses a hydrogen-rich atmosphere as predicted, then the primary transit depth for such an atmosphere would vary at a level of up to 0.3% as a function of wavelength, relative to the background light of its M-dwarf host star. Observations at this level of precision are obtainable with current space-based and ground-based instrumentation.

Additional materials: PDF of slides

ExoClimes 2010, Exeter, Thursday 9th Sep 2010