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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] [Key Words] [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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Walker SI, Bains W, Cronin L, DasSarma S, Danielache S, Domagal-Goldman S, Kacar B, Kiang NY, Lenardic A, Reinhard CT, Moore W, Schwieterman EW, Shkolnik EL, Smith HB. Exoplanet Biosignatures: Future Directions. ASTROBIOLOGY 2018; 18:779-824. [PMID: 29938538 PMCID: PMC6016573 DOI: 10.1089/ast.2017.1738] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2017] [Accepted: 03/13/2018] [Indexed: 05/08/2023]
Abstract
We introduce a Bayesian method for guiding future directions for detection of life on exoplanets. We describe empirical and theoretical work necessary to place constraints on the relevant likelihoods, including those emerging from better understanding stellar environment, planetary climate and geophysics, geochemical cycling, the universalities of physics and chemistry, the contingencies of evolutionary history, the properties of life as an emergent complex system, and the mechanisms driving the emergence of life. We provide examples for how the Bayesian formalism could guide future search strategies, including determining observations to prioritize or deciding between targeted searches or larger lower resolution surveys to generate ensemble statistics and address how a Bayesian methodology could constrain the prior probability of life with or without a positive detection. Key Words: Exoplanets-Biosignatures-Life detection-Bayesian analysis. Astrobiology 18, 779-824.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sara I. Walker
- School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
- Beyond Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
- ASU-Santa Fe Institute Center for Biosocial Complex Systems, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
- Blue Marble Space Institute of Science, Seattle, Washington
| | - William Bains
- EAPS (Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Science), MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts
- Rufus Scientific Ltd., Royston, United Kingdom
| | - Leroy Cronin
- School of Chemistry, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom
| | - Shiladitya DasSarma
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland
| | - Sebastian Danielache
- Department of Materials and Life Science, Faculty of Science and Technology, Sophia University, Tokyo, Japan
- Earth Life Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Shawn Domagal-Goldman
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
- NASA Astrobiology Institute, Virtual Planetary Laboratory Team, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
| | - Betul Kacar
- Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
- NASA Astrobiology Institute, Reliving the Past Team, University of Montana, Missoula, Montana
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona
- Department of Astronomy and Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona
| | - Nancy Y. Kiang
- NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, New York, New York
| | - Adrian Lenardic
- Department of Earth Science, Rice University, Houston, Texas
| | - Christopher T. Reinhard
- School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia
- NASA Astrobiology Institute, Alternative Earths Team, University of California, Riverside, California
| | - William Moore
- Department of Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Hampton University, Hampton, Virginia
- National Institute of Aerospace, Hampton, Virginia
| | - Edward W. Schwieterman
- Blue Marble Space Institute of Science, Seattle, Washington
- NASA Astrobiology Institute, Virtual Planetary Laboratory Team, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
- NASA Astrobiology Institute, Alternative Earths Team, University of California, Riverside, California
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of California, Riverside, California
- NASA Postdoctoral Program, Universities Space Research Association, Columbia, Maryland
| | - Evgenya L. Shkolnik
- School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
| | - Harrison B. Smith
- School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
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