SO Colloquia: Extrasolar planets: recent advances and future challenges

Recently a group of scientists has confirmed the presence of water in the atmosphere of a super Earth orbiting in the habitable zone of its host star. But what what does this milestone represent in the search for life outside Earth? What do we mean by habitable? What do we really know about extrasolar planets, their internal structure or origins? What is a super Earth, the most common planet category know to date for which no example is found in our solar system? How do we characterize exoplanetary atmospheres? How are these different from the planetary atmospheres in our solar system? How do we search for life? In my talk I will present an overview of recent discoveries in the field of extrasolar planet characterization with focus on their atmospheres, habitability, and the search for life. I will take the opportunity to introduce the most recent European space missions related to planet characterization: CHEOPS, PLATO, and ARIEL.