EPJ Web of Conferences 16, 04001 (2011)
https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/20111604001

Spectroscopic detection and characterisation of planetary atmospheres

¹ Centre for Astrophysics Research, University of Hertfordshire
² Lowell Observatory, Planetary Research Centre, 1400 West Mars Hill Road, Flagstaff, AZ 86001, USA
³ Departments of Physics and Astronomy, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK
⁴ Department of Physics and Astronomy, and Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics
⁵ University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
⁶ Astrophysics Research Institute, Liverpool John Moores University, Birkenhead CH41 1LD, UK
⁷ SUPA, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St Andrews, Fife KY16 9SS, UK
⁸ Universidad de Chile, Casilla Postal 36D, Santiago, Chile

^a e-mail: j.r.barnes@herts.ac.uk

Abstract

Space based broadband infrared observations of close orbiting extrasolar giant planets at transit and secondary eclipse have proved a successful means of determining atmospheric spectral energy distributions and molecular composition. Here, a ground-based spectroscopic technique to detect and characterise planetary atmospheres is presented. Since the planet need not be transiting, this method enables a greater sample of systems to be studied. By modelling the planetary signature as a function of phase, high resolution spectroscopy has the potential to recover the signature of molecules in planetary atmospheres.