Poster: http://www.physics.uwo.ca/colloquia/Colloquia%20Notices/2011_2012/COWAN%20Research%20Talk.pdf
The University of Western Ontario
DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY
PHYSICS & ASTRONOMY COLLOQUIUM
Date: MONDAY, 16th April 2012
Time: 1:30 p.m.
Location: Physics & Astronomy Seminar Room 22
Dr. Nicolas Cowan
Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics (CIERA)
Northwestern University, Illinois
“Divining the Climate of a Pale Blue Dot”
ABSTRACT
Temperate rocky planets are being discovered around nearby stars but we know precious little about them aside from mass, incident stellar flux, and sometimes bulk density. To understand what these worlds are like we will need to know their climate. This will most likely require one or more expensive space missions, and it is worth studying which measurement suites best constrain simple climate models. I will describe how the changing colour and brightness of an exoplanet—at both optical and thermal wavelengths—can be used to constrain its surface conditions and climate.