Towards understanding habitable exoplanets: where theory meets observations

DIPC Seminars

Speaker

Kristina Kislyakova
University of Vienna

When

2025/10/02
12:00

Place

DIPC Josebe Olarra Seminar Room

Host

Nate Bastian

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Exoplanetology is one of the most dynamic and fastest-growing branches of the modern astrophysics. During our lifetimes, we have seen enormous progress in this field. The very first exoplanet, a hot gas giant on a very close orbit around its star, was discovered 30 years ago in 1995, and today more than six thousand of exoplanets are known. They vary greatly in sizes, orbital properties, atmospheres, and orbit very different host stars. Observational techniques and theoretical methods have developed so much in the last few decades that now we are very close to observing secondary atmospheres of terrestrial exoplanets similar to those of the Earth, Mars, and Venus - a task which seemed impossible even ten years ago. Although such observations are still very challenging, they help us shed light on the evolution of potentially habitable exoplanets and better understand the place of the Solar system planets in the larger family of exoplanets. 

In my talk, I will describe the history and the latest advances in the field of exoplanetology, and then focus on the results of my group and myself. Our research focuses on integrating advanced numerical tools to investigate planetary interior processes such as dynamos and outgassing, atmospheric escape and magnetospheric dynamics, and on planning future observations with instruments including the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) and the Large Interferometer for Exoplanets (LIFE).