Exploring the link between star and planet formation with Ariel

TL;DR

The Ariel mission aims to observe diverse transiting exoplanets to understand how star and planet formation processes influence planetary atmospheres, providing new insights into planetary origins.

Contribution

This paper reviews how Ariel's observations can reveal the impact of formation factors on planetary atmospheres, highlighting the mission's suitability for studying complex formation processes.

Findings

Ariel will observe a diverse exoplanet population.

Environmental factors influence atmospheric compositions.

The mission is well-suited to study formation effects.

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.