Handbook of Exoplanets

This state-of-the-art reference work contains over 15 sections dealing with all aspects of exoplanets and exobiology research. Each section features 10-20 contributions written by the top experts in their subject, including both senior researchers and young, smart researchers who represent the future of the discipline. 

The second edition has been fully updated with the many advancements made across the field over the last several years, including groundbreaking data and results from the recently launched James Webb Space Telescope. The topics covered include:

• Historical trends & considerations
• Studies of the Solar System
• Objects at the planet-to-star transition
Exoplanet detection and characterization 
• Related instrumentation, technology and software tools
• Planet and planet-system statistics with recent and planned surveys
• Planetary atmospheres, formation and evolution processes
• Habitability and exobiology implications
• Outlooks for future exploration and science development

Unparalleled in breadth and scope, this handbook comprehensively tackles one of the most challenging and dynamic fields of modern astronomy and astrophysics.  

Hans J. Deeg is staff astronomer at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (Tenerife, Spain). Born in Würzburg (Germany), he obtained a Master in Physics from SUNY Buffalo (USA) and in 1993, a PhD from the University of New Mexico, USA. Prior to joining the IAC, he held posts at the Rochester Institute of Technology, the SETI Institute (both USA), the Centro de Astrobiología, Madrid, and the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (both Spain). His principal interests are the detection and characterization of exoplanets, for which he has been working for over 25 years on a wide range of ground- and space-based projects. He was the principal Spanish investigator for the exoplanet detection with the CoRoT space mission (2006-14) and is now coordinating several tasks for ESA’s next generation PLATO space mission, towards its launch in 2026. During his career, he has authored about 350 scientific contributions, organized several conferences related to exoplanets, supervisedseveral PhD theses, and teached  Master-level courses on exoplanets at the University of La Laguna, Tenerife. Since 2018, he serves on the steering committee of the IAU's division F on Planetary Systems and Astrobiology, and during 2022, he chairs the international KESPRINT collaboration for the follow-up and characterization of planet candidates from the TESS mission. 

Juan Antonio Belmonte is staff astronomer at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (Tenerife, Spain) where he investigates in exoplanets, stellar physics and cultural astronomy. He has published or edited a dozen books and authored nearly 200 publications on those subjects. He has been the Director of the Science and Cosmos Museum of Tenerife from 1995 to 2000, President of the European Society for Astronomy in Culture (SEAC) from 2005 to 2011 and of the Spanish Time Allocation Committee (CAT) of the Canarian observatories, included the new generation 10 m GTC, from 2003 to 2012. He received in 2012 the "Carlos Jaschek" award of the European Society for Astronomy in Culture for his contributions to the discipline. He is now advisory editor of the Journal for the History of Astronomy and has been editor of two sections and the author of 12 contributions in the recent Springer`s Handbook of Archaeoastronomy and Ethnoastronomy (2014). Currently, he is teaching a master-level course on Extrasolar Planets at the University of La Laguna. Born in Murcia (Spain) in 1962, he studied physics and got his master-thesis in 1986 at Barcelona University and obtained his PhD in Astrophysics at La Laguna University in 1989.