GEPI

De la conception instrumentale
à l’exploitation des observables
Accueil > Séminaires > The science of exoplanets

The science of exoplanets

Camilla Danielski

In less than two decades, the field of exoplanetary science has
undergone nothing short of a revolution. Since their discovery, planets
have been found around every type of star, and current statistical
estimates indicate that, on average, every star in the Milky Way hosts
at least one planetary companion, which means approximately 10^11
planets. The Gaia mission itself will discover tens of thousands new
planets.
With such wealth of systems discovered, the next step in exoplanet
research is to characterise the properties of these systems in order to
understand their nature, their formation and evolutionary history. One
way of doing so is by measuring the chemical and thermal parameters of
their atmospheres. In this seminar will give an overview of what we know
about these foreign worlds, the current techniques used and discuss the
strengths and pitfalls of exoplanetary observations.