General Seminar

Dr. Bean will present the comparative planetology results that have emerged from JWST's first year of exoplanet atmosphere observations. The beautiful spectra that have been obtained for hot Jupiters demonstrate that these objects have diverse metallicities and C/O ratios to go along with their diverse masses and radii. On the other hand, detection of the atmospheres of terrestrial planets have so far remained elusive. In some cases strict upper limits on atmospheric thickness constrain how atmospheric loss and retention depends on key planetary and stellar properties. Dr. Bean will conclude with a look ahead at what these JWST results mean for exoplanet atmosphere characterization in the GMT era.