Physics – Optics
Scientific paper
Jan 2010
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010aas...21537703w&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #215, #377.03; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 42, p.586
Physics
Optics
Scientific paper
The first imaged exosolar planets are around stars with circumstellar debris disks, and the dust in these disks arises from the collisions of planetesimals. We consider the detectability of planetesimal impacts on imaged exosolar planets by using Jupiter during the 1994 Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 events as a proxy. By integrating the whole planet flux with and without impact spots, we measure the effect of the impacts at wavelengths from 2 - 4 μm. This wavelength range is suitable for imaging exosolar planets with ground-based adaptive optics systems. The impactors deposited material high-up Jupiter's atmosphere. Jupiter's reflected light spectrum in the near-infrared is dominated by methane opacity, and at wavelengths deep in the methane bands such as 2.3 and 3.5 μm, where the planet would normally have low reflectivity, it brightened substantially and stayed brighter for at least a month. We quantify these effects and timescales and estimate the likelihood of impacts onto giant planets throughout Solar System-like dynamical histories.
Flagg Laura
Weinberger Alycia J.
No associations
LandOfFree
Detecting Planetesimal Impacts on Exosolar Giant Planets does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with Detecting Planetesimal Impacts on Exosolar Giant Planets, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Detecting Planetesimal Impacts on Exosolar Giant Planets will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-964136