Exoplanets by the Lake IV: Geoastronomy and Origins of Life

Spectra of atmospheres of exoplanets (exo-atmospheres)

Prof. Oliver Shorttle (Cambridge, England), Prof. Paul Rimmer (Cambridge, England)

TBD

Prof. Kevin Heng (Munich, Germany)

July 19 to 24 2026 (Sunday to Friday, 5 nights)

Hotel Seespitz Gaestehaus in Herrsching (1.5 hours from Munich airport by S Bahn).

700 euros — includes hotel accommodation (shared; 2 participants to a room), all breakfasts and coffee/tea breaks (but no lunches/dinners).
Register no later than 2025 April 15 (Tuesday).

Nestor Espinoza is an associate astronomer and mission scientist for exoplanet science at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A. He is a widely recognised expert in the observations of exoplanetary atmospheres using both ground- and space-based telescopes. Among other programs, he is leading the implementation of a 500-hour Director’s Discretionary Time Program on the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to search for atmospheres on nearby rocky exoplanets. Part of his role at STScI is to provide support for space missions like JWST, where he has taken leadership roles on developing techniques, methodologies and software to acquire, reduce and analyze data.

Luis Welbanks is an assistant professor at Arizona State University, U.S.A. He is a widely recognised expert in atmospheric retrieval, which uses Bayesian inference to extract chemical abundances from measured spectra. These retrieved abundances are then used to interpret the formation history and habitability conditions of exoplanets. He is a member of numerous proposal teams that have won observing time on JWST and co-PI of the largest allocation to exoplanet science in Cycle 3.

Sara Seager is professor of physics, planetary science and aeronautics and astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), U.S.A., as well as the holder of its Class of 1941 Chair. She is a pioneer in exoplanet science, having contributed to early developments such as the calculation and measurement of transmission spectra. Her recent efforts have focused on astrobiology. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the MacArthur grant, the Kavli Prize in Astrophysics and the Order of Canada. She is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. She is the author of "Exoplanet Atmospheres: Physical Processes" (Princeton University Press).

Jean-Michel Désert is an associate Professor at the University of Amsterdam. Jean-Michel is an expert on detecting and characterizing the atmospheres of planets orbiting nearby stars, and teaches Planetary Sciences and Astrobiology to undergraduate students. The main goal of his research is to answer key questions about the formation and evolution of exoplanets, and to explain the origin and characteristics of our Solar System and the Earth. The most important component of his work focuses on studying exoplanet’s atmospheres to learn about their composition and overall physical properties. He conducts comparative exoplanetology observational programs, including with JWST.

Kevin Heng is professor of theoretical astrophysics at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany, and the holder of its Theoretical Astrophysics of Extrasolar Planets chair. He is the author of "Exoplanetary Atmospheres: Theoretical Concepts and Foundations" (Princeton University Press), which was recognised with the Chambliss Astronomical Writing Award of the American Astronomical Society.