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Luo Z, Wu Y, Yang S, Li Z, Hua W, Chen Z, Che L, Wang X, Ashfold MNR, Yuan K. Unraveling the Rich Fragmentation Dynamics Associated with S-H Bond Fission Following Photoexcitation of H 2S at Wavelengths ∼129.1 nm. J Phys Chem A 2024; 128:3351-3360. [PMID: 38651288 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpca.4c01478] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/25/2024]
Abstract
H2S is being detected in the atmospheres of ever more interstellar bodies, and photolysis is an important mechanism by which it is processed. Here, we report H Rydberg atom time-of-flight measurements following the excitation of H2S molecules to selected rotational (JKaKc') levels of the 1B1 Rydberg state associated with the strong absorption feature at wavelengths of λ ∼ 129.1 nm. Analysis of the total kinetic energy release spectra derived from these data reveals that all levels predissociate to yield H atoms in conjunction with both SH(A) and SH(X) partners and that the primary SH(A)/SH(X) product branching ratio increases steeply with ⟨Jb2⟩, the square of the rotational angular momentum about the b-inertial axis in the excited state. These products arise via competing homogeneous (vibronic) and heterogeneous (Coriolis-induced) predissociation pathways that involve coupling to dissociative potential energy surfaces (PES(s)) of, respectively, 1A″ and 1A' symmetries. The present data also show H + SH(A) product formation when exciting the JKaKc' = 000 and 111 levels, for which ⟨Jb2⟩ = 0 and Coriolis coupling to the 1A' PES(s) is symmetry forbidden, implying the operation of another, hitherto unrecognized, route to forming H + SH(A) products following excitation of H2S at energies above ∼9 eV. These data can be expected to stimulate future ab initio molecular dynamic studies that test, refine, and define the currently inferred predissociation pathways available to photoexcited H2S molecules.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zijie Luo
- Marine Engineering College, Dalian Maritime University, Liaoning 116026, China
- State Key Laboratory of Molecular Reaction Dynamics and Dalian Coherent Light Source, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 457 Zhongshan Road, Dalian 116023, China
| | - Yucheng Wu
- State Key Laboratory of Molecular Reaction Dynamics and Dalian Coherent Light Source, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 457 Zhongshan Road, Dalian 116023, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Shuaikang Yang
- State Key Laboratory of Molecular Reaction Dynamics and Dalian Coherent Light Source, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 457 Zhongshan Road, Dalian 116023, China
- Department of Chemical Physics, School of Chemistry and Materials Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Jinzhai Road 96, Hefei, Anhui 230026, China
| | - Zhenxing Li
- State Key Laboratory of Molecular Reaction Dynamics and Dalian Coherent Light Source, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 457 Zhongshan Road, Dalian 116023, China
| | - Wei Hua
- State Key Laboratory of Molecular Reaction Dynamics and Dalian Coherent Light Source, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 457 Zhongshan Road, Dalian 116023, China
| | - Zhichao Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Molecular Reaction Dynamics and Dalian Coherent Light Source, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 457 Zhongshan Road, Dalian 116023, China
| | - Li Che
- Department of Physics, School of Science, Dalian Maritime University, Dalian 116026, China
| | - Xingan Wang
- Department of Chemical Physics, School of Chemistry and Materials Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Jinzhai Road 96, Hefei, Anhui 230026, China
| | | | - Kaijun Yuan
- State Key Laboratory of Molecular Reaction Dynamics and Dalian Coherent Light Source, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 457 Zhongshan Road, Dalian 116023, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
- Hefei National Laboratory, Hefei 230088, China
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2
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Powell D, Feinstein AD, Lee EKH, Zhang M, Tsai SM, Taylor J, Kirk J, Bell T, Barstow JK, Gao P, Bean JL, Blecic J, Chubb KL, Crossfield IJM, Jordan S, Kitzmann D, Moran SE, Morello G, Moses JI, Welbanks L, Yang J, Zhang X, Ahrer EM, Bello-Arufe A, Brande J, Casewell SL, Crouzet N, Cubillos PE, Demory BO, Dyrek A, Flagg L, Hu R, Inglis J, Jones KD, Kreidberg L, López-Morales M, Lagage PO, Meier Valdés EA, Miguel Y, Parmentier V, Piette AAA, Rackham BV, Radica M, Redfield S, Stevenson KB, Wakeford HR, Aggarwal K, Alam MK, Batalha NM, Batalha NE, Benneke B, Berta-Thompson ZK, Brady RP, Caceres C, Carter AL, Désert JM, Harrington J, Iro N, Line MR, Lothringer JD, MacDonald RJ, Mancini L, Molaverdikhani K, Mukherjee S, Nixon MC, Oza AV, Palle E, Rustamkulov Z, Sing DK, Steinrueck ME, Venot O, Wheatley PJ, Yurchenko SN. Sulfur dioxide in the mid-infrared transmission spectrum of WASP-39b. Nature 2024; 626:979-983. [PMID: 38232945 PMCID: PMC10901732 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07040-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/11/2023] [Accepted: 01/05/2024] [Indexed: 01/19/2024]
Abstract
The recent inference of sulfur dioxide (SO2) in the atmosphere of the hot (approximately 1,100 K), Saturn-mass exoplanet WASP-39b from near-infrared JWST observations1-3 suggests that photochemistry is a key process in high-temperature exoplanet atmospheres4. This is because of the low (<1 ppb) abundance of SO2 under thermochemical equilibrium compared with that produced from the photochemistry of H2O and H2S (1-10 ppm)4-9. However, the SO2 inference was made from a single, small molecular feature in the transmission spectrum of WASP-39b at 4.05 μm and, therefore, the detection of other SO2 absorption bands at different wavelengths is needed to better constrain the SO2 abundance. Here we report the detection of SO2 spectral features at 7.7 and 8.5 μm in the 5-12-μm transmission spectrum of WASP-39b measured by the JWST Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) Low Resolution Spectrometer (LRS)10. Our observations suggest an abundance of SO2 of 0.5-25 ppm (1σ range), consistent with previous findings4. As well as SO2, we find broad water-vapour absorption features, as well as an unexplained decrease in the transit depth at wavelengths longer than 10 μm. Fitting the spectrum with a grid of atmospheric forward models, we derive an atmospheric heavy-element content (metallicity) for WASP-39b of approximately 7.1-8.0 times solar and demonstrate that photochemistry shapes the spectra of WASP-39b across a broad wavelength range.
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Affiliation(s)
- Diana Powell
- Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, Cambridge, MA, USA.
- Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
| | - Adina D Feinstein
- Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
- Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA
| | - Elspeth K H Lee
- Center for Space and Habitability, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Michael Zhang
- Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Shang-Min Tsai
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA, USA
| | - Jake Taylor
- Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Institut Trottier de Recherche sur les Exoplanètes, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Quebec, Canada
- Département de Physique, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Quebec, Canada
| | - James Kirk
- Department of Physics, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | - Taylor Bell
- Bay Area Environmental Research Institute, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, USA
- Space Science and Astrobiology Division, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, USA
| | - Joanna K Barstow
- School of Physical Sciences, The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK
| | - Peter Gao
- Earth and Planets Laboratory, Carnegie Institution for Science, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Jacob L Bean
- Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Jasmina Blecic
- Department of Physics, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
- Center for Astro, Particle, and Planetary Physics (CAP3), New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
| | - Katy L Chubb
- Centre for Exoplanet Science, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, UK
| | - Ian J M Crossfield
- Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, USA
| | - Sean Jordan
- Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Daniel Kitzmann
- Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA
| | - Sarah E Moran
- Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - Giuseppe Morello
- Department of Space, Earth and Environment, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden
- Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), Tenerife, Spain
- INAF - Palermo Astronomical Observatory, Palermo, Italy
| | | | - Luis Welbanks
- School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
| | - Jeehyun Yang
- Planetary Sciences Section, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
| | - Xi Zhang
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
| | - Eva-Maria Ahrer
- Centre for Exoplanets and Habitability, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK
- Department of Physics, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK
| | - Aaron Bello-Arufe
- Astrophysics Section, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
| | - Jonathan Brande
- Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, USA
| | - S L Casewell
- School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK
| | - Nicolas Crouzet
- Leiden Observatory, University of Leiden, Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Patricio E Cubillos
- INAF - Turin Astrophysical Observatory, Pino Torinese, Italy
- Space Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Graz, Austria
| | - Brice-Olivier Demory
- Center for Space and Habitability, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
- Space and Planetary Sciences, Institute of Physics, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Achrène Dyrek
- Université Paris-Saclay, CEA, CNRS, AIM, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Laura Flagg
- Department of Astronomy, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
- Carl Sagan Institute, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
| | - Renyu Hu
- Astrophysics Section, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
- Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
| | - Julie Inglis
- Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
| | - Kathryn D Jones
- Center for Space and Habitability, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | | | | | | | | | - Yamila Miguel
- Leiden Observatory, University of Leiden, Leiden, The Netherlands
- SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Vivien Parmentier
- Université Côte d'Azur, Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur, CNRS, Laboratoire Lagrange, French Riviera, France
| | - Anjali A A Piette
- Earth and Planets Laboratory, Carnegie Institution for Science, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Benjamin V Rackham
- Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Michael Radica
- Institut Trottier de Recherche sur les Exoplanètes, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Quebec, Canada
- Département de Physique, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Quebec, Canada
| | - Seth Redfield
- Astronomy Department, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT, USA
- Van Vleck Observatory, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT, USA
| | - Kevin B Stevenson
- Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD, USA
| | | | | | - Munazza K Alam
- Earth and Planets Laboratory, Carnegie Institution for Science, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Natalie M Batalha
- Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
| | | | - Björn Benneke
- Institut Trottier de Recherche sur les Exoplanètes, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Quebec, Canada
- Département de Physique, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Quebec, Canada
| | - Zach K Berta-Thompson
- Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA
| | - Ryan P Brady
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London, London, UK
| | - Claudio Caceres
- Instituto de Astrofisica, Facultad Ciencias Exactas, Universidad Andres Bello, Santiago, Chile
- Centro de Astrofisica y Tecnologias Afines (CATA), Santiago, Chile
- Núcleo Milenio de Formación Planetaria (NPF), Valparaíso, Chile
| | - Aarynn L Carter
- Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
| | - Jean-Michel Désert
- Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Joseph Harrington
- Planetary Sciences Group, Department of Physics and Florida Space Institute, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA
| | - Nicolas Iro
- Institute of Planetary Research, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Berlin, Germany
| | - Michael R Line
- School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
| | | | - Ryan J MacDonald
- Department of Astronomy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Luigi Mancini
- INAF - Turin Astrophysical Observatory, Pino Torinese, Italy
- Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Heidelberg, Germany
- Department of Physics, University of Rome "Tor Vergata", Rome, Italy
| | - Karan Molaverdikhani
- Universitäts-Sternwarte, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, München, Germany
- Exzellenzcluster Origins, Garching, Germany
| | - Sagnick Mukherjee
- Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
| | - Matthew C Nixon
- Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA
| | - Apurva V Oza
- Astrophysics Section, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
| | - Enric Palle
- Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), Tenerife, Spain
| | - Zafar Rustamkulov
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - David K Sing
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | | | - Olivia Venot
- Université de Paris Cité and Université Paris-Est Creteil, CNRS, LISA, Paris, France
| | - Peter J Wheatley
- Centre for Exoplanets and Habitability, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK
- Department of Physics, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK
| | - Sergei N Yurchenko
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London, London, UK
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3
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Dyrek A, Min M, Decin L, Bouwman J, Crouzet N, Mollière P, Lagage PO, Konings T, Tremblin P, Güdel M, Pye J, Waters R, Henning T, Vandenbussche B, Ardevol Martinez F, Argyriou I, Ducrot E, Heinke L, van Looveren G, Absil O, Barrado D, Baudoz P, Boccaletti A, Cossou C, Coulais A, Edwards B, Gastaud R, Glasse A, Glauser A, Greene TP, Kendrew S, Krause O, Lahuis F, Mueller M, Olofsson G, Patapis P, Rouan D, Royer P, Scheithauer S, Waldmann I, Whiteford N, Colina L, van Dishoeck EF, Östlin G, Ray TP, Wright G. SO 2, silicate clouds, but no CH 4 detected in a warm Neptune. Nature 2024; 625:51-54. [PMID: 37967578 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06849-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2023] [Accepted: 11/08/2023] [Indexed: 11/17/2023]
Abstract
WASP-107b is a warm (approximately 740 K) transiting planet with a Neptune-like mass of roughly 30.5 M⊕ and Jupiter-like radius of about 0.94 RJ (refs. 1,2), whose extended atmosphere is eroding3. Previous observations showed evidence for water vapour and a thick, high-altitude condensate layer in the atmosphere of WASP-107b (refs. 4,5). Recently, photochemically produced sulfur dioxide (SO2) was detected in the atmosphere of a hot (about 1,200 K) Saturn-mass planet from transmission spectroscopy near 4.05 μm (refs. 6,7), but for temperatures below about 1,000 K, sulfur is predicted to preferably form sulfur allotropes instead of SO2 (refs. 8-10). Here we report the 9σ detection of two fundamental vibration bands of SO2, at 7.35 μm and 8.69 μm, in the transmission spectrum of WASP-107b using the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) of JWST. This discovery establishes WASP-107b as the second irradiated exoplanet with confirmed photochemistry, extending the temperature range of exoplanets exhibiting detected photochemistry from about 1,200 K down to about 740 K. Furthermore, our spectral analysis reveals the presence of silicate clouds, which are strongly favoured (around 7σ) over simpler cloud set-ups. Furthermore, water is detected (around 12σ) but methane is not. These findings provide evidence of disequilibrium chemistry and indicate a dynamically active atmosphere with a super-solar metallicity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Achrène Dyrek
- Université Paris Cité, Université Paris-Saclay, CEA, CNRS, AIM, Gif-sur-Yvette, France.
| | - Michiel Min
- SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Leen Decin
- Institute of Astronomy, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Jeroen Bouwman
- Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie (MPIA), Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Nicolas Crouzet
- Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Paul Mollière
- Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie (MPIA), Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Pierre-Olivier Lagage
- Université Paris-Saclay, Université Paris Cité, CEA, CNRS, AIM, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | | | - Pascal Tremblin
- Université Paris-Saclay, UVSQ, CNRS, CEA, Maison de la Simulation, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Manuel Güdel
- Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie (MPIA), Heidelberg, Germany
- Department of Astrophysics, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- Institute for Particle Physics and Astrophysics, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - John Pye
- Space Research Centre, School of Physics & Astronomy, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK
| | - Rens Waters
- SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Leiden, The Netherlands
- Department of Astrophysics/IMAPP, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- HFML-FELIX, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Thomas Henning
- Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie (MPIA), Heidelberg, Germany
| | | | - Francisco Ardevol Martinez
- SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Leiden, The Netherlands
- Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
- Centre for Exoplanet Science, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
- School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
| | | | - Elsa Ducrot
- Université Paris-Saclay, Université Paris Cité, CEA, CNRS, AIM, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Linus Heinke
- Institute of Astronomy, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
- Centre for Exoplanet Science, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
- School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
| | | | | | - David Barrado
- Centro de Astrobiología (CAB), CSIC-INTA, Madrid, Spain
| | - Pierre Baudoz
- LESIA, Observatoire de Paris, CNRS, Université Paris Cité, Sorbonne Université, Meudon, France
| | - Anthony Boccaletti
- LESIA, Observatoire de Paris, CNRS, Université Paris Cité, Sorbonne Université, Meudon, France
| | - Christophe Cossou
- Département d'Electronique des Détecteurs et d'Informatique pour la Physique, Université Paris-Saclay, CEA, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Alain Coulais
- Université Paris-Saclay, Université Paris Cité, CEA, CNRS, AIM, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
- LERMA, Observatoire de Paris, Université PSL, Sorbonne Université, CNRS, Paris, France
| | - Billy Edwards
- SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - René Gastaud
- Département d'Electronique des Détecteurs et d'Informatique pour la Physique, Université Paris-Saclay, CEA, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Alistair Glasse
- UK Astronomy Technology Centre, Royal Observatory Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Adrian Glauser
- Institute for Particle Physics and Astrophysics, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Thomas P Greene
- Space Science and Astrobiology Division, NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, USA
| | - Sarah Kendrew
- European Space Agency, Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Oliver Krause
- Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie (MPIA), Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Fred Lahuis
- SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Michael Mueller
- Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Goran Olofsson
- Department of Astronomy, Stockholm University, AlbaNova University Center, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Polychronis Patapis
- Institute for Particle Physics and Astrophysics, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Daniel Rouan
- Centro de Astrobiología (CAB), CSIC-INTA, Madrid, Spain
| | - Pierre Royer
- Institute of Astronomy, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | | | - Ingo Waldmann
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London, London, UK
| | - Niall Whiteford
- Department of Astrophysics, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY, USA
| | - Luis Colina
- Centro de Astrobiología (CAB), CSIC-INTA, Madrid, Spain
| | | | - Göran Östlin
- Université Paris Cité, Université Paris-Saclay, CEA, CNRS, AIM, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
- Department of Astronomy, Oskar Klein Centre, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Tom P Ray
- School of Cosmic Physics, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, Dublin, Ireland
| | - Gillian Wright
- UK Astronomy Technology Centre, Royal Observatory Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
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4
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Bell TJ, Welbanks L, Schlawin E, Line MR, Fortney JJ, Greene TP, Ohno K, Parmentier V, Rauscher E, Beatty TG, Mukherjee S, Wiser LS, Boyer ML, Rieke MJ, Stansberry JA. Methane throughout the atmosphere of the warm exoplanet WASP-80b. Nature 2023; 623:709-712. [PMID: 37993572 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06687-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2023] [Accepted: 09/27/2023] [Indexed: 11/24/2023]
Abstract
The abundances of main carbon- and oxygen-bearing gases in the atmospheres of giant exoplanets provide insights into atmospheric chemistry and planet formation processes1,2. Thermochemistry suggests that methane (CH4) should be the dominant carbon-bearing species below about 1,000 K over a range of plausible atmospheric compositions3; this is the case for the solar system planets4 and has been confirmed in the atmospheres of brown dwarfs and self-luminous, directly imaged exoplanets5. However, CH4 has not yet been definitively detected with space-based spectroscopy in the atmosphere of a transiting exoplanet6-11, but a few detections have been made with ground-based, high-resolution transit spectroscopy12,13 including a tentative detection for WASP-80b (ref. 14). Here we report transmission and emission spectra spanning 2.4-4.0 μm of the 825 K warm Jupiter WASP-80b taken with the NIRCam instrument of the JWST, both of which show strong evidence of CH4 at greater than 6σ significance. The derived CH4 abundances from both viewing geometries are consistent with each other and with solar to sub-solar C/O and around five times solar metallicity, which is consistent with theoretical predictions15-17.
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Affiliation(s)
- Taylor J Bell
- Bay Area Environmental Research Institute, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, USA.
- Space Science and Astrobiology Division, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, USA.
| | - Luis Welbanks
- School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
| | | | - Michael R Line
- School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
| | - Jonathan J Fortney
- Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
| | - Thomas P Greene
- Space Science and Astrobiology Division, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, USA
| | - Kazumasa Ohno
- Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
- Division of Science, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Vivien Parmentier
- Laboratoire Lagrange, Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur, Université Côte d'Azur, Nice, France
| | - Emily Rauscher
- Department of Astronomy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Thomas G Beatty
- Department of Astronomy, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA
| | - Sagnick Mukherjee
- Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
| | - Lindsey S Wiser
- School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
| | | | - Marcia J Rieke
- Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
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