The Golden Age of Transiting Exoplanets: The Legacy of the CoRoT and Kepler Space Missions

Artie Hatzes (LSW Thüringen)
DESY Auditorium, 16.45 h

In the past decade the field of extrasolar planets has evolved into one of the most vibrant and exciting area of astrophysics. Early exoplanet studies focused primarily on just discovering exoplanets. We are now in an era where exoplanets are being characterized in terms of their true mass, radius, density, surface temperature, and atmospheric features. At the forefront of these characterization studies are the space missions CoRoT and Kepler, the first space telescopes devoted to the search for extrasolar planets via the transit method. These space missions have marked a "Golden Age" for exoplanets. I will review exciting new results from the CoRoT and Kepler Missions and show how exoplanets show a surprising diversity. Almost 20 years after the discovery of 51 Peg, a giant planet in a 4-day orbit, the field of extrasolar planets continues to produce unexpected discoveries.

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