Daniel Apai (UArizona) : Mapping Exoplanets and Brown Dwarfs

Spatially unresolved photometry and spectroscopy provide exciting, but limited probes of ultracool atmospheres, capable of testing only one-dimensional models. Phase-mapping can provide spatially and spectrally resolved (2D) maps of rotating ultra-cool objects. I will show results from ongoing HST, Spitzer, and VLT programs that apply this technique to brown dwarfs and exoplanets. Among other results I will show very high signal-to-noise and high cadence HST infrared spectroscopy of varying L/T transition brown dwarfs and the constraints they pose on the cloud cover of these interesting sources.