Matthew Murphy (University of Arizona/Steward)
Upgrading Transmission Spectroscopy
Transmission spectroscopy has emerged as one of the most powerful techniques for studying the atmospheres of exoplanets. This technique has been bolstered by the precision and wavelength coverage of the James Webb Space Telescope, affording a number of groundbreaking discoveries in exoplanet science over the past few years. The precision of JWST has also enabled a new analysis method, known as "limb-resolved transmission spectroscopy", which can double the constraining power of traditional transmission spectroscopy and may be transformative for our understanding of transiting exoplanets. This new method separately measures the transmission spectra of the planet's morning and evening limbs, enabling the study of a planet's global climate in more detail than previously possible. In this talk, I will discuss how limb-resolved transmission spectroscopy works and builds upon existing techniques. I will show how we applied this new method to make the first detection of "limb asymmetry" on the exoplanet WASP-107b, and discuss what we are learning about atmospheric circulation, chemistry, and cloud formation as a result.