Breaking Through Exoplanetary Atmospheres

As the search for new exoplanets continues, the new and exciting goal of unveiling their atmospheres is sparking a sea of questions and ideas. What are the atmospheres of these new worlds made of? What are their temperatures and pressures? Do they have clouds? Do they resemble any of the planets in our solar system? And most importantly, how can we find out the answers to these questions?

In this talk, I will present the latest results in the study of exoplanetary atmospheres, including the detection of carbon monoxide and potassium, among other molecules, as well as the ubiquitous presence of clouds. I also will show how measurements of exoplanetary atmospheres can be used to determine the mass and radius of non-transiting planets and how our techniques will detect the atmospheres of Earth analogs, once those are found.

Finally, I will describe some of the new concepts that are being developed to study those atmospheres, including the technical and physical limitations that we are facing and ideas to circumvent those limitations.