York University, Canada | 2015 May 12
[img3="Exoplanet Phase Cycle (Courtesy: York University)"]http://news.yorku.ca/files/keplerplanets.jpg[/img3][hr][/hr]We may complain a lot about the weather on earth but perhaps we are much better off here than on some alien worlds, where the daily forecast is cloudy, overcast skies in the morning and scorching heat in the afternoon.
A team of international astronomers including York University scientist Professor Ray Jayawardhana have uncovered evidence of daily weather cycles on six extra-solar planets using sensitive observations from the Kepler space telescope.
“Despite the discovery of thousands of extra-solar planets, what these far-off worlds look like is still shrouded in mystery,” says lead author Lisa Esteves, graduate student at the University of Toronto.
In their paper entitled “Changing Phases of Alien Worlds: Probing Atmospheres of Kepler Planets with High-Precision Photometry” published today in the Astrophysical Journal, the team analyzed all 14 Kepler planets known to exhibit phase variations, and found indications of cloudy mornings on four and hot, clear afternoons on two others. ...
Changing Phases of Alien Worlds: Probing Atmospheres of Kepler Planets with High-precision Photometry - Lisa J. Esteves et al
- Astrophysical Journal 804(2) 150 (2015 May 10) DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/804/2/150
arXiv.org > astro-ph > arXiv:1407.2245 > 08 Jul 2014 (v1), 07 May 2015 (v2)