Qualification objectives: The students have basic knowledge of the state of the art of research on extrasolar planets as well as the methods applied in the field of research. They can classify the solar system as one planetary system among many and apply their knowledge of planetology to exoplanets that cover an extended and diverse range of parameters and do not occur in the solar system. They know methods from different research areas of observational astronomy, Earth sciences, physics, and astrobiology and can apply them interdisciplinary in interdisciplinary groups.

Contents: Students will get an overview of planet types, populations and their characteristics. They will learn planetary system architectures and methods for planet detection with ground-based and satellite-based telescopes. They look at methods for determining the mass, radius, orbit, orbital inclination, and Love numbers of exoplanets of the relationship of the parameters to each other. Methods for determining the chemical composition of atmospheres are taught and an overview of previous data of extrasolar planetary atmospheres is given. In addition, students will be given an overview of habitability of extrasolar planets and the various methods used to detect biosignatures to detect life outside the solar system.