Poppenhaeger Lab

Research focus

ERC Consolidator Grant · 2024

The missing stellar physics component for atmospheric evaporation of exoplanets

The aim of this ambitious project is to use stellar physics to overcome a roadblock in our understanding of how exoplanets lose their primary hydrogen-helium atmospheres and make space for secondary, life-enabling ones. The best observing window for evaporating primary atmospheres are transit observations in the near-infrared metastable helium lines. However, correctly interpreting the observed absorption is extremely challenging. How much of the planetary helium is in the metastable state is controlled by a very small, but incredibly hard to observe part of the host star's extreme-ultraviolet spectrum. Not knowing this controlling factor makes quantitative estimates of the planet's…

From the public funding record at EU CORDIS. Describes the funded project, not the reviews below.