Abstract
Studies of our own solar system reveal a set of diverse and fascinating atmospheres governed by a complex interplay of chemical, radiative, and advective processes that yield an inherently three dimensional structure. We expect exoplanet atmospheres to exhibit similar diversity and complexity that must be explored to further our understanding of the fundamental physical processes shaping them. However, our inability to spatially resolve them requires we employ novel observational techniques to probe their three dimensional nature. Here I present the analysis of multi-epoch secondary eclipse observations of the canonical hot jupiters HD189733b and HD 209458b to probe variability in both time and space. This analysis investigates temporal variation in eclipse depth due to interactions of radiative and wave dynamics deep in the planetary atmosphere as well as produces two dimensional maps of thermal distributions at multiple wavelengths providing our first three dimensional look at an exoplanet atmosphere.
