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Cordiner M, Thelen A, Cavalie T, Cosentino R, Fletcher LN, Gurwell M, de Kleer K, Kuan YJ, Lellouch E, Moullet A, Nixon C, de Pater I, Teanby N, Butler B, Charnley S, Milam S, Moreno R, Booth M, Klaassen P, Cicone C, Mroczkowski T, Di Mascolo L, Johnstone D, van Kampen E, Lee M, Liu D, Maccarone T, Saintonge A, Smith M, Wedemeyer S. Atacama Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope (AtLAST) science: Planetary and cometary atmospheres. OPEN RESEARCH EUROPE 2024; 4:78. [PMID: 39100074 PMCID: PMC11297396 DOI: 10.12688/openreseurope.17473.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/25/2024] [Indexed: 08/06/2024]
Abstract
The study of planets and small bodies within our Solar System is fundamental for understanding the formation and evolution of the Earth and other planets. Compositional and meteorological studies of the giant planets provide a foundation for understanding the nature of the most commonly observed exoplanets, while spectroscopic observations of the atmospheres of terrestrial planets, moons, and comets provide insights into the past and present-day habitability of planetary environments, and the availability of the chemical ingredients for life. While prior and existing (sub)millimeter observations have led to major advances in these areas, progress is hindered by limitations in the dynamic range, spatial and temporal coverage, as well as sensitivity of existing telescopes and interferometers. Here, we summarize some of the key planetary science use cases that factor into the design of the Atacama Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope (AtLAST), a proposed 50-m class single dish facility: (1) to more fully characterize planetary wind fields and atmospheric thermal structures, (2) to measure the compositions of icy moon atmospheres and plumes, (3) to obtain detections of new, astrobiologically relevant gases and perform isotopic surveys of comets, and (4) to perform synergistic, temporally-resolved measurements in support of dedicated interplanetary space missions. The improved spatial coverage (several arcminutes), resolution (~ 1.2'' - 12''), bandwidth (several tens of GHz), dynamic range (~ 10 5) and sensitivity (~ 1 mK km s -1) required by these science cases would enable new insights into the chemistry and physics of planetary environments, the origins of prebiotic molecules and the habitability of planetary systems in general.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martin Cordiner
- Astrochemistry Laboratory, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, 20771-0003, USA
- Department of Physics, Catholic University of America, Washington, DC, 20064, USA
| | - Alexander Thelen
- Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, 91125, USA
| | - Thibault Cavalie
- Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Bordeaux, Universite de Bordeaux, Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, 33615, France
- LESIA, Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University, Sorbonne Universite, Meudon, 92195, France
| | | | - Leigh N. Fletcher
- School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester, Leicester, LE1 7RH, UK
| | - Mark Gurwell
- Center for Astrophysics, Harvard Smithsonian, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA
| | - Katherine de Kleer
- Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, 91125, USA
| | - Yi-Jehng Kuan
- National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei City, 116, Taiwan
| | - Emmanuel Lellouch
- LESIA, Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University, Sorbonne Universite, Meudon, 92195, France
| | - Arielle Moullet
- National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Charlottesville, VA, 22903, USA
| | - Conor Nixon
- Planetary Systems Laboratory, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, 20771, USA
| | - Imke de Pater
- Departments of Astronomy and of Earth and Planetary Science, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, California, 94720, USA
| | - Nicholas Teanby
- School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, England, BS8 1RJ, UK
| | - Bryan Butler
- National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Socorro, NM, 87801, USA
| | - Steven Charnley
- Astrochemistry Laboratory, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, 20771-0003, USA
| | - Stefanie Milam
- Astrochemistry Laboratory, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, 20771-0003, USA
| | - Raphael Moreno
- LESIA, Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University, Sorbonne Universite, Meudon, 92195, France
| | - Mark Booth
- UK Astronomy Technology Centre, Royal Observatory Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH9 3HJ, UK
| | - Pamela Klaassen
- UK Astronomy Technology Centre, Royal Observatory Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH9 3HJ, UK
| | - Claudia Cicone
- Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Oslo, Oslo, 0315, Norway
| | | | - Luca Di Mascolo
- Laboratoire Lagrange, Universite Cote d'Azur, Nice, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, 06304, France
- INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste, Trieste, 34131, Italy
- IFPU – Institute for Fundamental Physics of the Univers, Trieste, 34014, Italy
- Astronomy Unit, Department of Physics, University of Trieste, Trieste, 34131, Italy
| | - Doug Johnstone
- NRC Herzberg Astronomy and Astrophysics Research Centre, Victoria, BC, V9E 2E7, Canada
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, V8P 5C, Canada
| | | | - Minju Lee
- Cosmic Dawn Center, København, Denmark
| | - Daizhong Liu
- Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Garching bei München, Bayern, D-85748, Germany
- Purple Mountain Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, 210008, China
| | - Thomas Maccarone
- Department of Physics & Astronomy, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas, 79409-1051, USA
| | - Amelie Saintonge
- Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Garching bei München, Bayern, D-85748, Germany
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London, London, England, WC1E 6BT, UK
| | - Matthew Smith
- School of Physics & Astronomy, Cardiff University, Cardiff, Wales, CF24 3AA, UK
| | - Sven Wedemeyer
- Rosseland Centre for Solar Physics, University of Oslo, Oslo, N-0315, Norway
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