Physics & Astronomy Seminar – Weather on other worlds: from clouds and winds to seeking life

Stanimir Metchev,
Associate Professor, Canada Research Chair in Extrasolar Planets
Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Western Ontario

Weather systems are now known to be ubiquitous on brown dwarfs, and probably also on all extrasolar planets with atmospheres. Brightness monitoring of rotating brown dwarfs and exoplanets reveals storm- and band-like cloud structures, much like in the Solar System, while spectroscopic monitoring probes the altitudes of the constituent cloud layers. Polarimetric observations further reveal the characteristic sizes of the cloud droplets. The unprecedented observational precision enabling these developments is also offering an interesting new possibility: to efficiently detect habitable Earth-like planets around brown dwarfs. These may well offer the first opportunity to discover extrasolar life in the near future.

If you are interested in joining in this seminar, please contact Jean Porter at jporter@ubishops.ca to obtain the zoom link.