Sara Seager develops physical methods for interpreting exoplanets. With Dimitar Sasselov, she calculated atmospheric transmission during an exoplanet transit: absorption in the planetary limb makes the measured transit depth depend on wavelength. Their work identified strong atomic features and cloud height as observationally useful diagnostics.[ref]
Theoretical Transmission Spectra During Extrasolar Giant Planet Transits by Sara Seager and Dimitar Sasselov. Abstract: transmission method, predicted absorption and cloud-depth constraint
Her models of solid planets also connect measured mass and radius to bulk composition through an equation of state. They showed how such measurements can distinguish broad iron-rich, silicate-rich and water-rich families while leaving finer compositional ambiguities. A measured mean mass density therefore constrains a family of interior models rather than uniquely revealing an interior.[ref]
Mass-radius relationships for solid exoplanets by Sara Seager and others. Abstract: composition families, equations of state and limits of mass–radius inference
Portrait of Sara Seager
. NASA/Joel Kowsky. Public domain (NASA). Source usage terms, via Wikimedia Commons. Source.
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