Extrasolar giant planets

Modern telescopic and spacecraft study of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, their properties, and their systems of rings, moons, and magnetospheres, has been the purview of the planetary scientist with little connection to the universe beyond until 1995, when the first extrasolar giant planet was discovered. Now the solar system s giants are the best-studied example of a class of some 100 objects which—while only one has been measured for size and hence density—may be present 10% of Sun-like stars. 

Bodenheimer P., Hubickyj O., andLissauer J. J. (2(X)0) Models of the in situ formation of detected extrasolar giant planets. Icarus 143, 2-14. 

Recent discoveries by ground based observations, as well as the Corot and Kepler space-missions, found planets with masses below 10 MEarth and densities akin to Neptune as well as Earth, suggesting that there is not one cut-off mass above which a planet is like Neptune and below which it is rocky like Earth or Venus. Note that the term Mini-Neptune is used for small extrasolar giant planets, not mini-Uranus, even though Uranus is the less massive planet (17.1 and 14.5 Earth masses. 

Burrows A, Budaj J, Hubeny I (2008) Theoretical spectra and light curves of close-in extrasolar giant planets and comparison with data. Astrophys J 678 1436-1457... 

Liang M-C, Seager S, Parkinson C, Lee AY-L, Yung YL (2004) On the insignificance of photochemictil hydrocarbon aerosols in the atmospheres of close-in extrasolar giant planets. Astrophys J Lett 605 L61-L64... 

Marley MS, Fortney J, Seager S, Barman T (2007) Atmosphtaes of extrasolar giant planets. In Reipurth B, Jewitt D, Kell K (eds) Protostars and planets V. University of Arizraia Press, Tucson, pp 733-747... 

Brown, 2001 [49] investigated features on the spectra of transiting extrasolar giant planets. A spectrum ratio R X) is defined. This is the ratio of spectra taken in... 

For close extrasolar giant planets line depths of 10 relative to the stellar continuum can occur. The most useful diagnostics are likely to be the near-infrared bands of molecules like H2, CO, H2O, CH4, and the visible/near-IR resonance lines of the... 

Extrasolar giant planets that are close to their parent star should exhibit a complex circulation pattern. The large spatial scales of moving circulation structures on HD 209458 b may generate detectable variability of the planet s atmospheric signatures (Menou et al., 2003 [229]). 

Brown, T.M. Transmission spectra as diagnostics of extrasolar giant planet atmospheres. Astrophys. J. 553, 1006-1026 (2001)... 

Menou, K., Cho, J.Y.-K., Seager, S., Hansen, B.M.S. Weather variability of close-in extrasolar giant planets. Astrophys. J. Lett. 587, L113-L116 (2003)... 

Seager, S., Sasselov, D.D. Theoretical transmission spectra during extrasolar giant planet transits. Astrophys. J. 537, 916-921 (2000)... 

Williams, D.M., Kasting, J.F., Wade, R. A. Habitable moons around extrasolar giant planets. Nature 385,234-236 (1997)... 

The detection of light from an extrasolar planet was reported by A. C. Cameron, K. Horne, A. Penny, and D. James, Probable Detection of Starlight Reflected from the Giant Planet Orbiting t Bootis , Nature, 402 (1999), 751. 

The detection of atmospheres on extrasolar planet is a very difficult task. 71% of the Earth is covered by oceans but up to now it is the only planet with water in liquid form on its surface. Venus might have had water on its early history, on Mars water may exist in a frozen state near the surface and climatic changes have occurred and formed river-like structures that are observed on its surface. There exists the possibility to find condensed water in the atmospheres of Jupiter and Saturn and in deeper layers of Uranus and Neptune. Subsurface oceans may exist on several satellites of the giant planets. But how can we detect water on extrasolar planets, how can we detect whether these objects have even an atmosphere ... 

Hueso, R., Sanchez-Lavega, A. A three-dimensional model of moist convection for the giant planets II Saturn s water and ammonia moist convective storms. Icarus 172,255-271 (2004) Hui, L., Seager, S. Atmospheric lensing and oblateness effects during an extrasolar planetary transit. Astrophys. J. 572, 540-555 (2002)... 

Water is one of the basic elements for life. It is even assumed that the evolution of life is only possible if there is liquid water present. A water molecule has some remarkable properties that make it quite unique in the universe. In the first chapter of this book we will review these basic properties of water and the role of water on Earth. All ancient civilizations realized the importance of water and their cities were constructed near great reservoirs of water. But is water unique on Earth Do we find water elsewhere in the solar system, on extrasolar planetary systems or in distant galaxies We will start the search for the presence of extraterrestrial water in our solar system. Surprisingly enough it seems that water in some form and sometimes in only minute quantities is found on any object in the solar system. Even on the planet nearest to the Sun, Mercury, there may be some water in the form of ice near its poles where never the light of Sun heats the surface. And there are objects in the solar system that are made up of a large quantity of water in terms of their mass, like comets and several satellites of the giant planets. 

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