Understanding Extreme Planetary Atmospheres: Modeling and Classifying Hot Jupiters

Jonathan Fortney
The University of California, Santa Cruz

The Spitzer Space Telescope has allowed astronomers to detect thermal emission from the close-in gas giant planets known as "hot Jupiters." Modeling these hot atmospheres requires an understanding of radiative transfer, chemistry, cloud formation (of rock and iron!), and atmospheric dynamics. These planets are quite diverse in terms of the measured fluxes from their day and night sides. However, it appears the expanding data sets may be able to be understood in terms of two classes of planets that differ in their atmospheric chemistry and opacity. We will discuss 1D and 3D models of these atmospheres and future prospects in this field, including lower-mass planets.