Exoplanet Diversity in the Era of Space-based Direct Imaging Missions

This whitepaper discusses the diversity of exoplanets that could be detected by future observations, so that comparative exoplanetology can be performed in the upcoming era of large space-based flagship missions.

The primary focus will be on characterizing Earth-like worlds around Sun-like stars. However, we will also be able to characterize companion planets in the system simultaneously. This will not only provide a contextual picture with regards to our Solar system, but also presents a unique opportunity to observe size dependent planetary atmospheres at different orbital distances. We propose a preliminary scheme based on chemical behavior of gases and condensates in a planet’s atmosphere that classifies them with respect to planetary radius and incident stellar flux.

Ravi Kopparapu, Eric Hebrard, Rus Belikov, Natalie M. Batalha, Gijs D. Mulders, Chris Stark, Dillon Teal, Shawn Domagal-Goldman, Dawn Gelino, Avi Mandell, Aki Roberge, Stephen Rinehart, Stephen R. Kane, Yasuhiro Hasegawa, Wade Henning, Brian Hicks, Vardan Adibekyan, Edward W. Schwieterman, Erika Kohler, Johanna Teske, Natalie Hinkel, Conor Nixon, Kevin France, William Danchi, Jacob Haqq-Misra, Eric T. Wolf, Scott D. Guzewich, Benjamin Charnay, Giada Arney, Hilairy E. Hartnett, Eric D. Lopez, Dante Minniti, Joe Renaud, Vladimir Airapetian, Chuanfei Dong, Anthony D. Del Genio, Melissa Trainer, Gioia Rau, Adam Jensen, Michael Way, Carey M. Lisse, Wladimir Lyra, Franck Marchis, Daniel Jontof-Hutter, Patrick Young, Ray Pierrehumbert, Chester E. Harman, Jonathan Fortney, Bill Moore, Steven Beckwith, et al. (8 additional authors not shown)
(Submitted on 10 Mar 2018)

Comments:    A white paper submitted to the National Academy of Sciences Exoplanet Science Strategy
Subjects:    Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP)
Cite as:    arXiv:1803.03812 [astro-ph.EP] (or arXiv:1803.03812v1 [astro-ph.EP] for this version)
Submission history
From: Ravi Kumar Kopparapu
[v1] Sat, 10 Mar 2018 14:18:37 GMT (510kb)
https://arxiv.org/abs/1803.03812