BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 METHOD:PUBLISH PRODID:-//Missouri State University/Calendar of Events//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN X-WR-TIMEZONE:America/Chicago BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/Chicago BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0600 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 DTSTART:20070311T020000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=3;BYDAY=2SU TZNAME:CDT END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0600 DTSTART:20071104T020000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=11;BYDAY=1SU TZNAME:CST END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT UID:675dc585-8915-42c3-aecd-e3fe781c583e.179485@calendar.missouristate.edu CREATED:20170316T164040Z LAST-MODIFIED:20170316T164040Z LOCATION:Kemper Hall 0206 SUMMARY:Guest Seminar Speaker Peter Gao: Understanding Exoplanet Clouds an d Hazes using Solar System Analogs DESCRIPTION:Clouds and hazes are ubiquitous in the atmospheres of planets in our Solar System\, and have now been found in exoplanet atmospheres as well. Clouds made up of rocks and metals\, and hazes comprised of hydroc arbon soots and sulfurs block the spectral signatures of key atmospheric molecules. This impacts their brightness when seen in reflected and emit ted light. In other words\, not only do clouds and hazes prevent us from gaining knowledge of exoplanets' atmospheric composition\, but they also strongly affect the way we interpret current and future direct imaging ob servations. Understanding exoplanet atmospheres requires that we also und erstand the behavior of these clouds and hazes. In his talk\, Dr. Gao wil l discuss current efforts in modeling clouds and hazes in exoplanet atmos pheres\, with a focus towards the application of cloud physics in determi ning possible exoplanet cloud/haze distributions. \n\n\nDr. Gao holds a P hD in Planetary Sciences from the California Institute of Technology\, wh ere he did his thesis on Clouds and Hazes in Planetary Atmospheres. He e arned an MS in Planetary Sciences\, also from CalTech. Currently\, Peter Gao is a NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow at the NASA Ames Research Cente r at Moffett Field\, CA. Here\, he performs research on modelling clouds and hazes on exoplanets and Brown Dwarfs\, with applications to ongoing a nd future missions and observing campaigns. X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:
Clouds and hazes are ubiquitous in the atmospheres of planets in our Solar System\, and have now been found in exoplanet atm ospheres as well. Clouds made up of \;rocks and \;metals\, and ha zes comprised of hydrocarbon soots and sulfurs block the spectral signatu res of key atmospheric molecules.  \;This impacts \;their brightn ess when seen in reflected and emitted light. In other words\, not only d o clouds and hazes \;prevent us from gaining knowledge of exoplanets' atmospheric composition\, but they also strongly affect the way we inter pret current and future direct imaging observations. Understanding exoplanet atmospheres requires that we also understand the behavior of th ese clouds and hazes. \;In his talk\, Dr. Gao wil l discuss current efforts in modeling clouds and hazes in exoplanet atmos pheres\, with a focus towards the application of cloud physics in determi ning possible exoplanet cloud/haze distributions. \;
\nDr. Gao holds a PhD in Planetary Sciences from the
California Institute of Technology\, where he did his thesis on Clouds a
nd Hazes in Planetary Atmospheres. \; He earned an MS in Planetary Sc
iences\, also from CalTech. Currently\, Peter Gao is a NASA Postdoctoral
Program Fellow at the NASA Ames Research Center at Moffett Field\, CA. He
re\, he performs research on modelling clouds and hazes on exoplanets and
Brown Dwarfs\, with applications to ongoing and future missions and obse
rving campaigns.