Solid Exoplanet Surfaces and Relief

Jean-Loup Bertaux (1, 2)

1 PLANETO - LATMOS
2 HELIOS - LATMOS

Characterizing the solid surface of an exoplanet will be difficult. Detecting mountains and reliefs in rocky exoplanets is certainly even more challenging. In this chapter, we try to investigate which techniques could be used for these purposes. A good starting point is to list a number of techniques that have been used in our own solar system and to check if their extrapolation to the great distances that are involved for exoplanets is possible or not. The use of the atmospheric column above a particular region is a good proxy for its altitude. We examine the case of transiting planets and non-transiting planets, and we conclude by advocating for a systematic search of small planets from ground-based radial velocity measurements in the vicinity of the Sun.

Domains: Sciences of the Universe [physics]

Jean-Loup Bertaux. Solid Exoplanet Surfaces and Relief. Dr. Hans J. Deeg and Dr. Juan Antonio Belmonte (eds). Handbook of Exoplanets, Springer International Publishing, 20 p., 2018, 978-3-319-30648-3. ⟨10.1007/978-3-319-30648-3_162-1⟩. ⟨insu-01676281⟩