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Sing DK, Rustamkulov Z, Thorngren DP, Barstow JK, Tremblin P, Alves de Oliveira C, Beck TL, Birkmann SM, Challener RC, Crouzet N, Espinoza N, Ferruit P, Giardino G, Gressier A, Lee EKH, Lewis NK, Maiolino R, Manjavacas E, Rauscher BJ, Sirianni M, Valenti JA. A warm Neptune's methane reveals core mass and vigorous atmospheric mixing. Nature 2024; 630:831-835. [PMID: 38768633 PMCID: PMC11208151 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07395-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/18/2023] [Accepted: 04/05/2024] [Indexed: 05/22/2024]
Abstract
Observations of transiting gas giant exoplanets have revealed a pervasive depletion of methane1-4, which has only recently been identified atmospherically5,6. The depletion is thought to be maintained by disequilibrium processes such as photochemistry or mixing from a hotter interior7-9. However, the interiors are largely unconstrained along with the vertical mixing strength and only upper limits on the CH4 depletion have been available. The warm Neptune WASP-107b stands out among exoplanets with an unusually low density, reported low core mass10, and temperatures amenable to CH4, though previous observations have yet to find the molecule2,4. Here we present a JWST-NIRSpec transmission spectrum of WASP-107b that shows features from both SO2 and CH4 along with H2O, CO2, and CO. We detect methane with 4.2σ significance at an abundance of 1.0 ± 0.5 ppm, which is depleted by 3 orders of magnitude relative to equilibrium expectations. Our results are highly constraining for the atmosphere and interior, which indicate the envelope has a super-solar metallicity of 43 ± 8 × solar, a hot interior with an intrinsic temperature of Tint = 460 ± 40 K, and vigorous vertical mixing which depletes CH4 with a diffusion coefficient of Kzz = 1011.6±0.1 cm2 s-1. Photochemistry has a negligible effect on the CH4 abundance but is needed to account for the SO2. We infer a core mass of11.5 - 3.6 + 3.0 M ⊕ , which is much higher than previous upper limits10, releasing a tension with core-accretion models11.
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Affiliation(s)
- 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.
| | - Zafar Rustamkulov
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Daniel P Thorngren
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Joanna K Barstow
- School of Physical Sciences, The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK
| | - Pascal Tremblin
- Université Paris-Saclay, UVSQ, CNRS, CEA, Maison de la Simulation, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
- Université Paris-Saclay, Université Paris Cité, CEA, CNRS, AIM, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | | | - Tracy L Beck
- Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | | | - Ryan C Challener
- Department of Astronomy and Carl Sagan Institute, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
| | - Nicolas Crouzet
- Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands
| | | | - Pierre Ferruit
- European Space Agency, European Space Astronomy Centre, Madrid, Spain
| | - Giovanna Giardino
- ATG Europe for the European Space Agency, ESTEC, Noordwijk, The Netherlands
| | | | - Elspeth K H Lee
- Center for Space and Habitability, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Nikole K Lewis
- Department of Astronomy and Carl Sagan Institute, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
| | | | - Elena Manjavacas
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
- AURA for the European Space Agency (ESA), Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | | | - Marco Sirianni
- European Space Agency (ESA) Office, Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD, USA
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2
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Coulombe LP, Benneke B, Challener R, Piette AAA, Wiser LS, Mansfield M, MacDonald RJ, Beltz H, Feinstein AD, Radica M, Savel AB, Dos Santos LA, Bean JL, Parmentier V, Wong I, Rauscher E, Komacek TD, Kempton EMR, Tan X, Hammond M, Lewis NT, Line MR, Lee EKH, Shivkumar H, Crossfield IJM, Nixon MC, Rackham BV, Wakeford HR, Welbanks L, Zhang X, Batalha NM, Berta-Thompson ZK, Changeat Q, Désert JM, Espinoza N, Goyal JM, Harrington J, Knutson HA, Kreidberg L, López-Morales M, Shporer A, Sing DK, Stevenson KB, Aggarwal K, Ahrer EM, Alam MK, Bell TJ, Blecic J, Caceres C, Carter AL, Casewell SL, Crouzet N, Cubillos PE, Decin L, Fortney JJ, Gibson NP, Heng K, Henning T, Iro N, Kendrew S, Lagage PO, Leconte J, Lendl M, Lothringer JD, Mancini L, Mikal-Evans T, Molaverdikhani K, Nikolov NK, Ohno K, Palle E, Piaulet C, Redfield S, Roy PA, Tsai SM, Venot O, Wheatley PJ. A broadband thermal emission spectrum of the ultra-hot Jupiter WASP-18b. Nature 2023; 620:292-298. [PMID: 37257843 PMCID: PMC10412449 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06230-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2023] [Accepted: 05/16/2023] [Indexed: 06/02/2023]
Abstract
Close-in giant exoplanets with temperatures greater than 2,000 K ('ultra-hot Jupiters') have been the subject of extensive efforts to determine their atmospheric properties using thermal emission measurements from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and Spitzer Space Telescope1-3. However, previous studies have yielded inconsistent results because the small sizes of the spectral features and the limited information content of the data resulted in high sensitivity to the varying assumptions made in the treatment of instrument systematics and the atmospheric retrieval analysis3-12. Here we present a dayside thermal emission spectrum of the ultra-hot Jupiter WASP-18b obtained with the NIRISS13 instrument on the JWST. The data span 0.85 to 2.85 μm in wavelength at an average resolving power of 400 and exhibit minimal systematics. The spectrum shows three water emission features (at >6σ confidence) and evidence for optical opacity, possibly attributable to H-, TiO and VO (combined significance of 3.8σ). Models that fit the data require a thermal inversion, molecular dissociation as predicted by chemical equilibrium, a solar heavy-element abundance ('metallicity', [Formula: see text] times solar) and a carbon-to-oxygen (C/O) ratio less than unity. The data also yield a dayside brightness temperature map, which shows a peak in temperature near the substellar point that decreases steeply and symmetrically with longitude towards the terminators.
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Affiliation(s)
- Louis-Philippe Coulombe
- Department of Physics, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Quebec, Canada.
- Trottier Institute for Research on Exoplanets, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Quebec, Canada.
| | - Björn Benneke
- Department of Physics, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Quebec, Canada
- Trottier Institute for Research on Exoplanets, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Quebec, Canada
| | - Ryan Challener
- Department of Astronomy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Anjali A A Piette
- Earth and Planets Laboratory, Carnegie Institution for Science, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Lindsey S Wiser
- 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
- Department of Astronomy, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
- Carl Sagan Institute, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
| | - Hayley Beltz
- Department of Astronomy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Adina D Feinstein
- Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Michael Radica
- Department of Physics, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Quebec, Canada
- Trottier Institute for Research on Exoplanets, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Quebec, Canada
| | - Arjun B Savel
- Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA
- Center for Computational Astrophysics, Flatiron Institute, New York, NY, USA
| | | | - Jacob L Bean
- Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Vivien Parmentier
- Université Côte d'Azur, Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur, CNRS, Laboratoire Lagrange, Nice, France
| | - Ian Wong
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA
| | - Emily Rauscher
- Department of Astronomy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | | | - Eliza M-R Kempton
- Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA
| | - Xianyu Tan
- Tsung-Dao Lee Institute, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China
- School of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China
- Atmospheric, Oceanic and Planetary Physics, Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Mark Hammond
- Atmospheric, Oceanic and Planetary Physics, Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Neil T Lewis
- Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Faculty of Environment, Science and Economy, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK
| | - Michael R Line
- School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
| | - Elspeth K H Lee
- Center for Space and Habitability, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Hinna Shivkumar
- Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Ian J M Crossfield
- Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, USA
| | - Matthew C Nixon
- Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 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
| | | | - Luis Welbanks
- School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
| | - Xi Zhang
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
| | - Natalie M Batalha
- Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
| | - Zachory K Berta-Thompson
- Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA
| | - Quentin Changeat
- European Space Agency, Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD, USA
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London, London, UK
| | - Jean-Michel Désert
- Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | | | - Jayesh M Goyal
- School of Earth and Planetary Sciences (SEPS), National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER), Homi Bhabha National Institute (HBNI), Jatni, India
| | - Joseph Harrington
- Planetary Sciences Group, Department of Physics, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA
- Florida Space Institute, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA
| | - Heather A Knutson
- Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
| | | | | | - Avi Shporer
- Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - David K Sing
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
- Department of Physics & Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | | | | | - Eva-Maria Ahrer
- Centre for Exoplanets and Habitability, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK
- Department of Physics, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK
| | - Munazza K Alam
- Earth and Planets Laboratory, Carnegie Institution for Science, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Taylor J Bell
- Bay Area Environmental Research Institute, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, 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
| | - Claudio Caceres
- Instituto de Astrofisica, Universidad Andrés Bello, Santiago, Chile
- Núcleo Milenio de Formación Planetaria (NPF), Valparaíso, Chile
- Centro de Astrofisica y Tecnologias Afines (CATA), Santiago, Chile
| | - Aarynn L Carter
- Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
| | - Sarah 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 - Osservatorio Astrofisico di Torino, Pino Torinese, Italy
- Space Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Graz, Austria
| | - Leen Decin
- Institute of Astronomy, Department of Physics and Astronomy, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Jonathan J Fortney
- Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
| | - Neale P Gibson
- School of Physics, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
| | - Kevin Heng
- Department of Physics, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK
- Universitäts-Sternwarte München, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, München, Germany
- ARTORG Center for Biomedical Engineering Research, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | | | - Nicolas Iro
- Institute of Planetary Research (PF), German Aerospace Center (DLR), Berlin, Germany
| | - Sarah Kendrew
- European Space Agency, Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Pierre-Olivier Lagage
- Université Paris-Saclay, Université Paris Cité, CEA, CNRS, AIM, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Jérémy Leconte
- Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Bordeaux, Université de Bordeaux, Pessac, France
| | - Monika Lendl
- Département d'Astronomie, Université de Genève, Sauverny, Switzerland
| | | | - Luigi Mancini
- Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Heidelberg, Germany
- INAF - Osservatorio Astrofisico di Torino, Pino Torinese, Italy
- Department of Physics, University of Rome "Tor Vergata", Rome, Italy
| | | | - Karan Molaverdikhani
- Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Heidelberg, Germany
- Universitäts-Sternwarte München, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, München, Germany
- Exzellenzcluster Origins, Garching, Germany
| | | | - Kazumasa Ohno
- Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
| | - Enric Palle
- Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), Tenerife, Spain
| | - Caroline Piaulet
- Department of Physics, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Quebec, Canada
- Trottier Institute for Research on Exoplanets, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Quebec, Canada
| | - Seth Redfield
- Astronomy Department, Van Vleck Observatory, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT, USA
| | - Pierre-Alexis Roy
- Department of Physics, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Quebec, Canada
- Trottier Institute for Research on Exoplanets, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Quebec, Canada
| | - Shang-Min Tsai
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA, USA
| | - Olivia Venot
- Université 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
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3
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Pelletier S, Benneke B, Ali-Dib M, Prinoth B, Kasper D, Seifahrt A, Bean JL, Debras F, Klein B, Bazinet L, Hoeijmakers HJ, Kesseli AY, Lim O, Carmona A, Pino L, Casasayas-Barris N, Hood T, Stürmer J. Vanadium oxide and a sharp onset of cold-trapping on a giant exoplanet. Nature 2023; 619:491-494. [PMID: 37316661 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06134-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/03/2022] [Accepted: 04/25/2023] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
The abundance of refractory elements in giant planets can provide key insights into their formation histories1. Owing to the low temperatures of the Solar System giants, refractory elements condense below the cloud deck, limiting sensing capabilities to only highly volatile elements2. Recently, ultra-hot giant exoplanets have allowed for some refractory elements to be measured, showing abundances broadly consistent with the solar nebula with titanium probably condensed out of the photosphere3,4. Here we report precise abundance constraints of 14 major refractory elements on the ultra-hot giant planet WASP-76b that show distinct deviations from proto-solar and a sharp onset in condensation temperature. In particular, we find nickel to be enriched, a possible sign of the accretion of the core of a differentiated object during the evolution of the planet. Elements with condensation temperatures below 1,550 K otherwise closely match those of the Sun5 before sharply transitioning to being strongly depleted above 1,550 K, which is well explained by nightside cold-trapping. We further unambiguously detect vanadium oxide on WASP-76b, a molecule long suggested to drive atmospheric thermal inversions6, and also observe a global east-west asymmetry7 in its absorption signals. Overall, our findings indicate that giant planets have a mostly stellar-like refractory elemental content and suggest that temperature sequences of hot Jupiter spectra can show abrupt transitions wherein a mineral species is either present or completely absent if a cold trap exists below its condensation temperature8.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stefan Pelletier
- Department of Physics, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
- Trottier Institute for Research on Exoplanets, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
| | - Björn Benneke
- Department of Physics, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- Trottier Institute for Research on Exoplanets, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
| | - Mohamad Ali-Dib
- Center for Astro, Particle, and Planetary Physics, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
| | - Bibiana Prinoth
- Lund Observatory, Division of Astrophysics, Department of Physics, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | - David Kasper
- Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Andreas Seifahrt
- Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Jacob L Bean
- Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
| | | | | | - Luc Bazinet
- Department of Physics, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- Trottier Institute for Research on Exoplanets, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
| | - H Jens Hoeijmakers
- Lund Observatory, Division of Astrophysics, Department of Physics, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | | | - Olivia Lim
- Department of Physics, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- Trottier Institute for Research on Exoplanets, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
| | | | - Lorenzo Pino
- INAF - Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, Florence, Italy
| | | | - Thea Hood
- Université de Toulouse, CNRS, IRAP, Toulouse, France
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