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Extrasolar planets

Cloudy with a chance of dustballs

Nature volume 505, pages 31–32 (2014)Cite this article

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The flat and featureless transmission spectra of two intermediate-sized extrasolar planets, observed during the planets' passage across their host stars, shed light on the properties of their atmospheres. See Letters p.66 & p.69

Flat spectra do not typically excite astronomers, but there are times when a lack of spectral features tells you something interesting. Such is the case with observations of two separate sub-Jupiter-sized extrasolar planets made using the Hubble Space Telescope and reported by Knutson et al.1 and Kreidberg et al.2 on pages 66 and 69 of this issue, respectively.

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Figure 1: Exoplanetary atmospheres.

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  1. Julianne Moses is at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colorado 80301, USA.,

    Julianne Moses

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  1. Julianne Moses
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Correspondence to Julianne Moses.

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Moses, J. Cloudy with a chance of dustballs. Nature 505, 31–32 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/505031a

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