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Handbook of Exoplanets pp 1–16Cite as

Mapping Exoplanets

Abstract

The varied surfaces and atmospheres of planets make them interesting places to live, explore, and study from afar. Unfortunately, the great distance to even the closest exoplanets makes it impossible to resolve their disk with current or near-term technology. It is still possible, however, to deduce spatial inhomogeneities in exoplanets provided that different regions are visible at different times – this can be due to rotation, orbital motion, and occultations by a star, planet, or moon. Astronomers have so far constructed maps of thermal emission and albedo for short-period giant planets. These maps constrain atmospheric dynamics and cloud patterns in exotic atmospheres. In the future, exo-cartography could yield surface maps of terrestrial planets, hinting at the geophysical and geochemical processes that shape them.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to International Space Science Institute for hosting the Exo-Cartography workshops. N.B. Cowan acknowledges support from the McGill Space Institute and l’Institut de recherche sur les exoplanètes. Y. Fujii was supported by the NASA Postdoctoral Program at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, administered by Universities Space Research Association, as well as by the NASA Astrobiology Program through the Nexus for Exoplanet System Science. The authors thank J.C. Schwartz for creating many of the figures, as well as T. Bell, D. Keating, E. Rauscher, and T. Robinson for providing useful feedback on an earlier draft of this review.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. McGill University, 3550 rue University, Montréal, QC, Canada

    Nicolas B. Cowan

  2. Earth-Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan

    Yuka Fujii

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  1. Nicolas B. Cowan
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  2. Yuka Fujii
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Correspondence to Nicolas B. Cowan .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias , La Laguna, Spain

    Hans J. Deeg

  2. Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, La Laguna, Spain

    Juan Antonio Belmonte

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Cowan, N.B., Fujii, Y. (2017). Mapping Exoplanets. In: Deeg, H., Belmonte, J. (eds) Handbook of Exoplanets . Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-30648-3_147-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-30648-3_147-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-30648-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-30648-3

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Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Mapping Exoplanets
    Published:
    19 January 2021

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-30648-3_147-2

  2. Original

    Mapping Exoplanets
    Published:
    20 September 2017

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-30648-3_147-1

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