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1. Exoplanet Imaging via Differentiable Rendering

   https://doi.org/10.1109/TCI.2025.3525971  

   Feng, Brandon Y; Ferrer-Chávez, Rodrigo; Levis, Aviad; Wang, Jason J; Bouman, Katherine L; Freeman, William T (January 2025, IEEE Transactions on Computational Imaging)
2. The Exoplanet Transmission Spectroscopy Imager (ETSI)

   https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2562371  

   Limbach, Mary Anne; Schmidt, Luke M.; DePoy, Darren L.; Mason, Jeffrey C.; Scobey, Mike; Brown, Pat; Taylor, Chelsea; Marshall, Jennifer L. (December 2020, Proc. SPIE 11447, Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy VIII)

   Evans, Christopher J.; Bryant, Julia J.; Motohara, Kentaro (Ed.)

   We present the design of a novel instrument tuned to detect transiting exoplanet atmospheres. The instrument, which we call the exoplanet transmission spectroscopy imager (ETSI), makes use of a new technique called common-path multi-band imaging (CMI). ETSI uses a prism and multi-band lter to simultaneously image 15 spectral bandpasses on two detectors from 430 􀀀 975nm (with a average spectral resolution of R = =
    = 23) during exoplanet transits of a bright star. A prototype of the instrument achieved photon-noise limited results which were below the atmospheric amplitude scintillation noise limit. ETSI can detect the presence and composition of an exoplanet atmosphere in a relatively short time on a modest-size telescope. We show the optical design of the instrument. Further, we discuss design trades of the prism and multi-band lter which are driven by the science of the ETSI instrument. We describe the upcoming survey with ETSI that will measure dozens of exoplanet atmosphere spectra in  2 years on a two meter telescope. Finally, we will discuss how ETSI will be a powerful means for follow up on all gas giant exoplanets that transit bright stars, including a multitude of recently identi ed TESS (NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) exoplanets. 

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3. Solar System Physics for Exoplanet Research

   https://doi.org/10.1088/1538-3873/ab8eb9  

   Horner, J.; Kane, S. R.; Marshall, J. P.; Dalba, P. A.; Holt, T. R.; Wood, J.; Maynard-Casely, H. E.; Wittenmyer, R.; Lykawka, P. S.; Hill, M.; et al (October 2020, Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific)

   null (Ed.)
4. Molten iron in Earth-like exoplanet cores

   https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abn2051  

   Zhang, Youjun; Lin, Jung-Fu (January 2022, Science)

   Earth, the only known habitable planet in the Universe, has a magnetic field that shields organic life-forms from harmful radiation coming from the Sun and beyond. This magnetic field is generated by the churning of molten iron in its outer core. The habitability of exoplanets orbiting other stars could be gleaned through better understanding of their iron cores and magnetic fields ( 1 ). However, extreme pressure and temperature conditions inside exoplanets that are much heavier than Earth may mean that their cores behave differently. On page 202 of this issue, Kraus et al. ( 2 ) used a powerful laser to generate conditions similar to those inside the cores of such “super-Earths” and reveal that even under extreme conditions, molten iron can crystallize similarly to that found at the base of Earth’s outer core. 

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5. The exoplanet perspective on future ice giant exploration

   https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2020.0054  

   Wakeford, H. R.; Dalba, P. A. (December 2020, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences)

   null (Ed.)

   Exoplanets number in their thousands, and the number is ever increasing with the advent of new surveys and improved instrumentation. One of the most surprising things we have learnt from these discoveries is not that small-rocky planets in their stars habitable zones are likely to be common, but that the most typical size of exoplanets is that not seen in our solar system—radii between that of Neptune and the Earth dubbed mini-Neptunes and super-Earths. In fact, a transiting exoplanet is four times as likely to be in this size regime than that of any giant planet in our solar system. Investigations into the atmospheres of giant hydrogen/helium dominated exoplanets has pushed down to Neptune and mini-Neptune-sized worlds revealing molecular absorption from water, scattering and opacity from clouds, and measurements of atmospheric abundances. However, unlike measurements of Jupiter, or even Saturn sized worlds, the smaller giants lack a ground truth on what to expect or interpret from their measurements. How did these sized worlds form and evolve and was it different from their larger counterparts? What is their internal composition and how does that impact their atmosphere? What informs the energy budget of these distant worlds? In this we discuss what characteristics we can measure for exoplanets, and why a mission to the ice giants in our solar system is the logical next step for understanding exoplanets. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘Future exploration of ice giant systems’. 

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