Seminar
Observing Planetary Transits with GTC

Abstract

So far more than 800 planets have been discovered and their  
characterization is becoming more important. Transiting planets offer  
the unique opportunity of detecting planetary atmospheres, helping to  
improve the theoretical models of atmospheric composition under  
different physical parameters (densities, irradiation, etc). However,  
the precision needed to detect atoms and molecules, requires big  
telescopes and stable instruments in order to obtain a good  
signal-to-noise. In this talk I'll review the efforts, technical  
challenges and current results that our group of Planets and Low Mass  
stars is obtaining using GTC to study extra-solar planets.