Exoplanets

With the introduction of advanced instruments like NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, exoplanet research has entered a new era. Astronomers are now tackling some of the biggest questions in this field of research: What are the properties of exoplanets? Why are they so diverse? What is the nature and composition of their atmospheres, and how can we tell which ones might be habitable?

UMD astronomers leverage some of the world’s largest telescopes to study a wide range of exoplanets, from planets with rocky surfaces to gas giants with atmospheres composed of hydrogen, helium, and heavier elements. With the Webb telescope, they can see spectral features — clues revealing the composition of a planet’s atmosphere — in unprecedented detail. To glean even more information from these observations, UMD astronomers use numerical models to simulate exoplanet atmospheres and predict their properties with greater precision.