The Exoplanet Handbook: Edition 2

Michael Perryman

Aug 2018 · Cambridge University Press

About this ebook

With the discovery of planets beyond our solar system 25 years ago, exoplanet research has expanded dramatically, with new state-of-the-art ground-based and space-based missions dedicated to their discovery and characterisation. With more than 3,500 exoplanets now known, the complexity of the discovery techniques, observations and physical characterisation have grown exponentially. This Handbook ties all these avenues of research together across a broad range of exoplanet science. Planet formation, exoplanet interiors and atmospheres, and habitability are discussed, providing in-depth coverage of our knowledge to date. Comprehensively updated from the first edition, it includes instrumental and observational developments, in-depth treatment of the new Kepler mission results and hot Jupiter atmospheric studies, and major updates on models of exoplanet formation. With extensive references to the research literature and appendices covering all individual exoplanet discoveries, it is a valuable reference to this exciting field for both incoming and established researchers.

About the author

Michael Perryman had a thirty-year career with the European Space Agency (ESA), initially as the scientific leader of the Hipparcos astrometry mission, 1981–97, and also serving as project manager for its operational phase, 1989–93. With Lennart Lindegren, he was the co-originator of the Gaia astrometry mission, a project expected to make important contributions to exoplanet science in the coming years. He was ESA's project scientist for Gaia from its earliest concepts in 1995 until the Critical Design Review in 2008, establishing the payload concept, technical feasibility, operational and data analysis principles, and its organisational structure, and coordinating its scientific case. He was Professor of Astronomy at Rijksuniversiteit Leiden, The Netherlands between 1993 and 2009, and Bohdan Paczyński Visiting Professor at Princeton University, New Jersey in 2013.