Stellar contamination of the transmission spectrum of transiting exoplanets is emerging as a major challenge to the detailed atmospheric characterization of exoplanetary atmospheres. We are organizing a workshop to explore the impact of the transit light source effect on transmission spectra around different host stars and identify methods capable of correcting for this contamination.

The workshop will be part of the NExSS Workshops without Walls: an online workshop open to the entire community.

Images of a Massive Planetary System in Formation

Images of a Massive Planetary System in Formation

Protoplanetary disks offer an opportunity to learn about the processes by which planetary systems form and evolve. Images of these young systems also enable us to study, by analogy, the formation of our own Solar System, in which the common orbital plane of the...

Alien Earths Breakfasts are Back!

Alien Earths Breakfasts are Back!

After an almost 2-year pause due to the pandemic, we restarted our in-person AE Breakfasts. It has been really wonderful to be able to chat face to face about all the cool science!

The Genesis Database

The Genesis Database

The key goal of EOS is to advance our understanding of the formation of habitable planets. As an unusually large and ambitious program, EOS is in a rare position to successfully integrate interdisciplinary knowledge on planet formation – that is, to combine...

The Origins Seminars on YouTube!

The Origins Seminar now has its own YouTube channel and the most recent talks are now available! Origins will continue to operate through most of the Summer and talks will be recorded and available through the Origins Seminar YouTube channel.

Clues to the Processing of Dust Around Stars

Clues to the Processing of Dust Around Stars

Research by University of Arizona Assistant Professor Pierre Haenecour and his team on the effect of ion irradiation on dust grains in circumstellar and interstellar environments, presented by Haenecour at Microscopy and MicroAnalysis 2019, has been...

Characterizing Exoplanet Atmospheres

Characterizing Exoplanet Atmospheres

There are many ways astronomers have developed to detect exoplanets. Mikayla Mace introduced the most popular methods—radial velocity, transit, and direct imaging—in an earlier post on this blog. Each of these has their own strengths, making them useful for detecting...

Observing Planet Formation from Mauna Kea

Observing Planet Formation from Mauna Kea

I sat down on my third flight of the day, and the last that I would be taking to the big island of Hawaii on my way to the Mauna Kea observatories. The passenger with the seat adjacent to mine followed and sat down. My step-mom was a flight attendant, so flying is...