_version_ 1866909281190674432
author Grant, David
Lewis, Nikole K.
Wakeford, Hannah R.
Batalha, Natasha E.
Glidden, Ana
Goyal, Jayesh
Mullens, Elijah
MacDonald, Ryan J.
May, Erin M.
Seager, Sara
Stevenson, Kevin B.
Valenti, Jeff A.
Visscher, Channon
Alderson, Lili
Allen, Natalie H.
Cañas, Caleb I.
Colón, Knicole
Clampin, Mark
Espinoza, Néstor
Gressier, Amélie
Huang, Jingcheng
Lin, Zifan
Long, Douglas
Louie, Dana R.
Peña-Guerrero, Maria
Ranjan, Sukrit
Sotzen, Kristin S.
Valentine, Daniel
Anderson, Jay
Balmer, William O.
Bellini, Andrea
Hoch, Kielan K. W.
Kammerer, Jens
Libralato, Mattia
Mountain, C. Matt
Perrin, Marshall D.
Pueyo, Laurent
Rickman, Emily
Rebollido, Isabel
Sohn, Sangmo Tony
van der Marel, Roeland P.
Watkins, Laura L.
author_facet Grant, David
Lewis, Nikole K.
Wakeford, Hannah R.
Batalha, Natasha E.
Glidden, Ana
Goyal, Jayesh
Mullens, Elijah
MacDonald, Ryan J.
May, Erin M.
Seager, Sara
Stevenson, Kevin B.
Valenti, Jeff A.
Visscher, Channon
Alderson, Lili
Allen, Natalie H.
Cañas, Caleb I.
Colón, Knicole
Clampin, Mark
Espinoza, Néstor
Gressier, Amélie
Huang, Jingcheng
Lin, Zifan
Long, Douglas
Louie, Dana R.
Peña-Guerrero, Maria
Ranjan, Sukrit
Sotzen, Kristin S.
Valentine, Daniel
Anderson, Jay
Balmer, William O.
Bellini, Andrea
Hoch, Kielan K. W.
Kammerer, Jens
Libralato, Mattia
Mountain, C. Matt
Perrin, Marshall D.
Pueyo, Laurent
Rickman, Emily
Rebollido, Isabel
Sohn, Sangmo Tony
van der Marel, Roeland P.
Watkins, Laura L.
contents Clouds are prevalent in many of the exoplanet atmospheres that have been observed to date. For transiting exoplanets, we know if clouds are present because they mute spectral features and cause wavelength-dependent scattering. While the exact composition of these clouds is largely unknown, this information is vital to understanding the chemistry and energy budget of planetary atmospheres. In this work, we observe one transit of the hot Jupiter WASP-17b with JWST's MIRI LRS and generate a transmission spectrum from 5-12 $\rmμ$m. These wavelengths allow us to probe absorption due to the vibrational modes of various predicted cloud species. Our transmission spectrum shows additional opacity centered at 8.6 $\rmμ$m, and detailed atmospheric modeling and retrievals identify this feature as SiO$_2$(s) (quartz) clouds. The SiO$_2$(s) clouds model is preferred at 3.5-4.2$σ$ versus a cloud-free model and at 2.6$σ$ versus a generic aerosol prescription. We find the SiO$_2$(s) clouds are comprised of small ${\sim}0.01$ $\rmμ$m particles, which extend to high altitudes in the atmosphere. The atmosphere also shows a depletion of H$_2$O, a finding consistent with the formation of high-temperature aerosols from oxygen-rich species. This work is part of a series of studies by our JWST Telescope Scientist Team (JWST-TST), in which we will use Guaranteed Time Observations to perform Deep Reconnaissance of Exoplanet Atmospheres through Multi-instrument Spectroscopy (DREAMS).
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2310_08637
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle JWST-TST DREAMS: Quartz Clouds in the Atmosphere of WASP-17b
Grant, David
Lewis, Nikole K.
Wakeford, Hannah R.
Batalha, Natasha E.
Glidden, Ana
Goyal, Jayesh
Mullens, Elijah
MacDonald, Ryan J.
May, Erin M.
Seager, Sara
Stevenson, Kevin B.
Valenti, Jeff A.
Visscher, Channon
Alderson, Lili
Allen, Natalie H.
Cañas, Caleb I.
Colón, Knicole
Clampin, Mark
Espinoza, Néstor
Gressier, Amélie
Huang, Jingcheng
Lin, Zifan
Long, Douglas
Louie, Dana R.
Peña-Guerrero, Maria
Ranjan, Sukrit
Sotzen, Kristin S.
Valentine, Daniel
Anderson, Jay
Balmer, William O.
Bellini, Andrea
Hoch, Kielan K. W.
Kammerer, Jens
Libralato, Mattia
Mountain, C. Matt
Perrin, Marshall D.
Pueyo, Laurent
Rickman, Emily
Rebollido, Isabel
Sohn, Sangmo Tony
van der Marel, Roeland P.
Watkins, Laura L.
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Clouds are prevalent in many of the exoplanet atmospheres that have been observed to date. For transiting exoplanets, we know if clouds are present because they mute spectral features and cause wavelength-dependent scattering. While the exact composition of these clouds is largely unknown, this information is vital to understanding the chemistry and energy budget of planetary atmospheres. In this work, we observe one transit of the hot Jupiter WASP-17b with JWST's MIRI LRS and generate a transmission spectrum from 5-12 $\rmμ$m. These wavelengths allow us to probe absorption due to the vibrational modes of various predicted cloud species. Our transmission spectrum shows additional opacity centered at 8.6 $\rmμ$m, and detailed atmospheric modeling and retrievals identify this feature as SiO$_2$(s) (quartz) clouds. The SiO$_2$(s) clouds model is preferred at 3.5-4.2$σ$ versus a cloud-free model and at 2.6$σ$ versus a generic aerosol prescription. We find the SiO$_2$(s) clouds are comprised of small ${\sim}0.01$ $\rmμ$m particles, which extend to high altitudes in the atmosphere. The atmosphere also shows a depletion of H$_2$O, a finding consistent with the formation of high-temperature aerosols from oxygen-rich species. This work is part of a series of studies by our JWST Telescope Scientist Team (JWST-TST), in which we will use Guaranteed Time Observations to perform Deep Reconnaissance of Exoplanet Atmospheres through Multi-instrument Spectroscopy (DREAMS).
title JWST-TST DREAMS: Quartz Clouds in the Atmosphere of WASP-17b
topic Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2310.08637