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  1. Reassessing Exoplanet Meteorology from the Thermal Phase Variations

    A sample of a thermal map of an exoplanet (left) and the corresponding position on an orbital diagram (right). Source: A.D.Adams/NASA Ames Research Center. Image credit: None
    A sample of a thermal map of an exoplanet (left) and the corresponding position on an orbital diagram (right). Source: A.D.Adams/NASA Ames Research Center.

    Members of the NASA Astrobiology Institute based at NASA Ames Research Center team have published a paper describing a thermal model applied to light curves of planet-bearing stars. The model accurately reproduces much of the large-scale data of existing full-orbit photometry data captured by the Spitzer Space Telescope, including the timescale of heating/cooling, the time positions of minimum and maximum flux, and depths of transits and secondary eclipses.

    “Reassessing Exoplanet Light Curves with a Thermal Model” is published in the Astronomical Journal.

    Source: [The Astronomical Journal (via NASA Ames Research Center)]