Down to Earth: Technique Lets Ground-Based Telescopes Parse Exoplanet Atmospheres

In the 15 years since the first planet orbiting a sunlike star outside our solar system was conclusively discovered, astronomers have compiled a vast and diverse menagerie of such so-called exoplanets. Of the more than 400 now known, many are large--10 times the mass of Jupiter or more--and a precious few are small, just a few times Earth's mass. Little is known about these faraway worlds beyond bulk properties such as their orbital periods, estimated masses and, on relatively rare occasions, their diameters. [More]

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