The next five years present a truly unique opportunity in the history of planetary astrophysics. For the first time, the observational techniques, the theoretical models, and a sufficient number of known exoplanets orbiting nearby stars are available to spectroscopically characterize a wide diversity of planets. Planets ranging from blazingly hot giant planets to temperate Earth-sized planets in the habitable zone of their host stars.

Many unanswered questions remain: How and where do planets form? What materials make up their interiors? What gases are in their atmospheres? What role do clouds and hazes play? How big can a terrestrial planet be? How small can a gaseous planet be? And finally, what planets are capable of hosting life?

Professor Benneke’s team is currently in an exceptional position to address many of the questions above because they are currently conducting several unprecedented large observational programs using the Hubble Space Telescope, the Spitzer Space Telescope, and the 10-meter Keck observatories. They have developed powerful analysis and modeling framework to interpret these unique data sets. The main areas that Professor Benneke’s group is working on are:

• Exploring the diversity of planetary atmospheres on super-Earths and exo-Neptunes using Hubble Space Telescope transit spectroscopy. Professor Benneke is the principal investigator of the largest Hubble Space Program in the world to characterize small exoplanets.
• Probing the formation of giant planets using high-resolution near-infrared spectroscopy from 10-meter Keck telescopes
• Atmospheric characterization and mapping of exoplanets using the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)
• Understanding the exotic cloud types on exoplanets
• Discovery and initial characterization of prime targets for future JWST characterization using K2, TESS, and ground-based follow-up

The study of exoplanets aims at establishing the prevalence and diversity of planetary systems in our galaxy, understanding how these systems form and evolve, comprehending the physics involved in their atmosphere and interior and, ultimately, detecting traces of life elsewhere in the universe. This is the main interest of Professor Lafrenière's group. The group's work is primarily performed using infrared imaging techniques that allow them to detect the planets directly, and then measuring their physical properties. To successfully "see" these very faint planets located right next to their host star, which can be several million times brighter, it is necessary to continually develop new observation and image processing techniques and even to build new instruments. With current technology, it is possible to detect gas giant planets with orbits of the outer solar system's size or larger.

In addition to direct imaging of planets, Professor Lafrenière's research group is also interested in the characterization of "hot Jupiter" planets by using transit/eclipse spectrophotometry and transit timing. The group is also involved in studies of brown dwarfs, in stellar and substellar multiplicity studies, and in searching for new young low-mass stars in the solar neighborhood.