WASP-12b as a prolate, inflated and disrupting planet from tidal dissipation.

The class of exotic Jupiter-mass planets that orbit very close to their parent stars were not explicitly expected before their discovery. The recently discovered transiting planet WASP-12b has a mass M = 1.4 +/- 0.

The genesis of planets.

Barely a decade ago scientists who study how planets form had to base their theory on a single example-our solar system. Now they have dozens of mature systems and dozens more in birth throes. No two are alike.

Diffusion in supersonic turbulent compressible flows.

We investigate diffusion in supersonic turbulent compressible flows. Supersonic turbulence can be characterized as network of interacting shocks. We consider flows with different rms Mach numbers and where energy necessary to maintain dynamical equilibrium is inserted at different spatial scales.

Remote sensing of planetary properties and biosignatures on extrasolar terrestrial planets.

The major goals of NASA's Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF) and the European Space Agency's Darwin missions are to detect terrestrial-sized extrasolar planets directly and to seek spectroscopic evidence of habitable conditions and life. Here we recommend wavelength ranges and spectral features for these missions. We assess known spectroscopic molecular band features of Earth, Venus, and Mars in the context of putative extrasolar analogs.