Astrobites@Anchorage: Wednesday Afternoon Sessions

A collection of thoughts about AAS events throughout Wednesday afternoon.Categories: Current EventsTags: AAS220, astronomy, astrophysics(Click to read more...)

More support from the local coffee shop. (My answer: characterizing the habitability of planets happens at both.)
Astrobites is again liveblogging AAS! In order to avoid inundating our readers’ RSS feeds, we’ll be updating this post with short paragraphs about the talks we’ve heard and posters we’ve seen. So keep checking back throughout Wednesday afternoon!
Monday morning sessions
Monday afternoon sessions
Tuesday morning sessions
Tuesday afternoon sessions
Wednesday morning sessions

1:00 pm – Beyond Kepler: Opportunities for Characterization of Exoplanet Atmospheres in the Next Decade
A panel of scientists weighed the wealth of knowledge we can obtain from studying the atmospheres of planets against the difficulty of measuring the properties of those atmospheres. Studying the atmospheres of planets can teach us about their temperature profiles, chemical abundances, and – ultimately – habitability. Before delving into the discussion on atmospheres, Natalie Batalha (San Jose State University) expressed her fear that the “treasure trove” of exoplanet candidates Kepler has discovered will “languish” after the mission because many of them orbit stars that are too faint for current follow-up techniques. “We need investment ...