Title: Clouds and Weather on the Hottest Jupiters

Abstract: The atmospheres of hot Jupiters exist in an extreme state of day-night disequilibrium, giving us a unique opportunity to study dynamic processes in giant planet atmospheres. By using orbital phase curve observations of these planets we can construct a global map of their thermal emission, and watch their atmospheres change as gas moves from day to night and back again. These observations are typically interpreted using cloud-free 3D global circulation models (GCMs), and the divergences that we see from GCM predictions are usually taken as evidence for atmospheric composition differences. I will discuss new results from Spitzer phase curve observations which show that clouds are universally present on the nightsides of hot Jupiters, and new HST spectroscopic phase curve data which show -- for the first time -- the longitudinal extent of clouds on a hot Jupiter. These results indicate that cloud-free GCMs are not capturing the correct atmospheric physics in hot Jupiters, and they show how the nightside emission from cloudy planets will complicate future JWST observations.

Institution: University of Arizona

Host: Dan Stevens