Admission requirements
The student must have successfully completed the course Exo-planets: Interiors and Atmospheres A
Description
The emphasis of Part B of the Exoplanets course is on the “exterior” of planets, namely, from the upper atmosphere and beyond. Planets do not exist in empty space, but they are rather embedded in the particle, magnetic and radiation environments of their host stars. As a consequence, the interaction between planets and their host stars leads to escape of planetary atmospheres, shapes (and sometimes induces) planetary magnetospheres, and affects the space weather on a planet.
This course focuses on Space Physics, and covers the following topics:
Planetary upper atmospheres: atmospheric escape (thermal vs non-thermal); Jeans escape; hydrodynamic escape and energy-limit approximation; primary and secondary atmospheres; detection of escaping atmospheres in exoplanets
Planetary magnetospheres: magnetism in solar system planets, intrinsic magnetosphere, induced magnetosphere, magnetopause distance, ionopause, magnetic fields in exoplanets.
Solar and stellar activity: spot cycle, flares, magnetism and proxies for magnetic activity; effects of stellar activity on exoplanet detection.
The interplanetary medium — solar and stellar winds: basic concepts of fluid dynamics, overview of stellar winds over the HR diagram, forces driving a stellar wind, thermally-driven winds, winds of a magnetic rotator, Alfven surface, mass- and angular-momentum losses, evolution of stellar rotation.
Space weather: origin, impacts, events and mitigation.
Course objectives
On successful completion of this course, students should be able to:
Derive the equations responsible for the stability of planetary atmospheres and magnetospheres
Explain the key processes responsible for solar and stellar activity and their space weather effects on (exo)planets
Explain the physics of winds of planet-hosting stars; derive the basic wind equations and evaluate the wind forcing on (exo)planets
Timetable
In MyTimetable, you can find all course and programme schedules, allowing you to create your personal timetable. Activities for which you have enrolled via MyStudyMap will automatically appear in your timetable.
Additionally, you can easily link MyTimetable to a calendar app on your phone, and schedule changes will be automatically updated in your calendar. You can also choose to receive email notifications about schedule changes. You can enable notifications in Settings after logging in.
Questions? Watch the video, read the instructions, or contact the ISSC helpdesk.
Note: Joint Degree students from Leiden/Delft need to combine information from both the Leiden and Delft MyTimetables to see a complete schedule. This video explains how to do it.
Mode of instruction
Lectures and tutorial sessions. During the lectures there will be an introduction to the topic and basic physics followed by a discussion of relevant papers on the topic presented by the students and debates on this. During the tutorial sessions, students will use open source codes used in exoplanet research to solve different problems.
Assessment method
Continuous assessment throughout the course (such as, Homework assignment, Paper presentation and/or Project)
Reading list
No formal book will be used in this course. Some useful books are listed below:
“Space Physics - An Introduction”, Russell, Luhmann, Strangeway
“Atmospheric evolution on inhabited and lifeless worlds” (Catling and Kasting)
“Introduction to stellar winds”, by Lamers & Cassinelli
Registration
As a student, you are responsible for enrolling on time through MyStudyMap.
In this short video, you can see step-by-step how to enrol for courses in MyStudyMap.
Extensive information about the operation of MyStudyMap can be found here.
There are two enrolment periods per year:
Enrolment for the fall opens in July
Enrolment for the spring opens in December
See this page for more information about deadlines and enrolling for courses and exams.
Note:
It is mandatory to enrol for all activities of a course that you are going to follow.
Your enrolment is only complete when you submit your course planning in the ‘Ready for enrolment’ tab by clicking ‘Send’.
Not being enrolled for an exam/resit means that you are not allowed to participate in the exam/resit.
Contact
Lecturer: Dr. A. Vidotto
Remarks
Soft skills
Critical thinking
Problem solving
Computational thinking
Analytical skills
Oral and Written communication
Software
Starting from the 2024/2025 academic year, the Faculty of Science will use the software distribution platform Academic Software. Through this platform, you can access the software needed for specific courses in your studies. For some software, your laptop must meet certain system requirements, which will be specified with the software. It is important to install the software before the start of the course. More information about the laptop requirements can be found on the student website.