Solar System Ice Giants: Exoplanets in our Backyard
astro-ph.EP
/ Authors
Abigail Rymer, Kathleen Mandt, Dana Hurley, Carey Lisse, Noam Izenberg, H. Todd Smith, Joseph Westlake, Emma Bunce, Christopher Arridge, Adam Masters
and 103 more authors
Mark Hofstadter, Amy Simon, Pontus Brandt, George Clark, Ian Cohen, Robert Allen, Sarah Vine, Kenneth Hansen, George Hospodarsky, William Kurth, Paul Romani, Laurent Lamy, Philippe Zarka, Hao Cao, Carol Paty, Matthew Hedman, Elias Roussos, Dale Cruikshank, William Farrell, Paul Fieseler, Andrew Coates, Roger Yelle, Christopher Parkinson
/ Abstract
Future remote sensing of exoplanets will be enhanced by a thorough investigation of our solar system Ice Giants (Neptune-size planets). What can the configuration of the magnetic field tell us (remotely) about the interior, and what implications does that field have for the structure of the magnetosphere; energy input into the atmosphere, and surface geophysics (for example surface weathering of satellites that might harbour sub-surface oceans). How can monitoring of auroral emission help inform future remote observations of emission from exoplanets? Our Solar System provides the only laboratory in which we can perform in-situ experiments to understand exoplanet formation, dynamos, systems and magnetospheres.