Abstract
The goal of the Ariel space mission is to observe a large and diversified population of transiting planets around a range of host star types to collect information on their atmospheric composition. The planetary bulk and atmospheric compositions bear the marks of the way the planets formed: Ariel’s observations will therefore provide an unprecedented wealth of data to advance our understanding of planet formation in our Galaxy. A number of environmental and evolutionary factors, however, can affect the final atmospheric composition. Here we provide a concise overview of which factors and effects of the star and planet formation processes can shape the atmospheric compositions that will be observed by Ariel, and highlight how Ariel’s characteristics make this mission optimally suited to address this very complex problem.
Highlights
The study of the initial stages of the life of planetary systems, when planets are forming within the gaseous embrace of protoplanetary discs, has been undergoing a transformation in recent years
The planetary bulk and atmospheric compositions bear the marks of the way the planets formed: Ariel’s observations will provide an unprecedented wealth of data to advance our understanding of planet formation in our Galaxy
We provide a concise overview of which factors and effects of the star and planet formation processes can shape the atmospheric compositions that will be observed by Ariel, and highlight how Ariel’s characteristics make this mission optimally suited to address this very complex problem
Summary
The study of the initial stages of the life of planetary systems, when planets are forming within the gaseous embrace of protoplanetary discs, has been undergoing a transformation in recent years. Experimental Astronomy allowing us to directly observe, for the first time, the gaps and rings in the gas and dust of protoplanetary discs that were the theoretically predicted signatures of the appearance of giant planets These observations are being accompanied by improvements in the compositional characterisation of the discs themselves, allowing the first direct comparisons between the volatile budgets in protostellar objects and in the comets of our Solar System. The first part (Sections 2-5) aims to explore the environmental factors linked to the star formation process and the evolution of protoplanetary discs that can impact the final build of the exoplanets that Ariel will observe. Because of the interdisciplinary nature of the discussion throughout this paper, each section and subsection will include one coloured box providing the associated take-home message, to help readers to identify and connect the key points for all specific subjects discussed
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