_version_ 1866916926192615424
author Dyrek, Achrene
Min, Michiel
Decin, Leen
Bouwman, Jeroen
Crouzet, Nicolas
Mollière, Paul
Lagage, Pierre-Olivier
Konings, Thomas
Tremblin, Pascal
Güdel, Manuel
Pye, John
Waters, Rens
Henning, Thomas
Vandenbussche, Bart
Martinez, Francisco Ardevol
Argyriou, Ioannis
Ducrot, Elsa
Heinke, Linus
Van Looveren, Gwenael
Absil, Olivier
Barrado, David
Baudoz, Pierre
Boccaletti, Anthony
Cossou, Christophe
Coulais, Alain
Edwards, Billy
Gastaud, René
Glasse, Alistair
Glauser, Adrian
Greene, Thomas P.
Kendrew, Sarah
Krause, Oliver
Lahuis, Fred
Mueller, Michael
Olofsson, Goran
Patapis, Polychronis
Rouan, Daniel
Royer, Pierre
Scheithauer, Silvia
Waldmann, Ingo
Whiteford, Niall
Colina, Luis
van Dishoeck, Ewine F.
Greve, Thomas
Ostlin, Göran
Ray, Tom P.
Wright, Gillian
author_facet Dyrek, Achrene
Min, Michiel
Decin, Leen
Bouwman, Jeroen
Crouzet, Nicolas
Mollière, Paul
Lagage, Pierre-Olivier
Konings, Thomas
Tremblin, Pascal
Güdel, Manuel
Pye, John
Waters, Rens
Henning, Thomas
Vandenbussche, Bart
Martinez, Francisco Ardevol
Argyriou, Ioannis
Ducrot, Elsa
Heinke, Linus
Van Looveren, Gwenael
Absil, Olivier
Barrado, David
Baudoz, Pierre
Boccaletti, Anthony
Cossou, Christophe
Coulais, Alain
Edwards, Billy
Gastaud, René
Glasse, Alistair
Glauser, Adrian
Greene, Thomas P.
Kendrew, Sarah
Krause, Oliver
Lahuis, Fred
Mueller, Michael
Olofsson, Goran
Patapis, Polychronis
Rouan, Daniel
Royer, Pierre
Scheithauer, Silvia
Waldmann, Ingo
Whiteford, Niall
Colina, Luis
van Dishoeck, Ewine F.
Greve, Thomas
Ostlin, Göran
Ray, Tom P.
Wright, Gillian
contents WASP-107b is a warm (~740 K) transiting planet with a Neptune-like mass of ~30.5 Earth masses and Jupiter-like radius of ~0.94 Jupiter radius, whose extended atmosphere is eroding. Previous observations showed evidence for water vapour and a thick high-altitude condensate layer in WASP-107b's atmosphere. Recently, photochemically produced sulphur dioxide (SO2) was detected in the atmosphere of a hot (~1200 K) Saturn-mass planet from transmission spectroscopy near 4.05 microns, but for temperatures below 1000 K sulphur is predicted to preferably form sulphur allotropes instead of SO2. Here we report the 9-sigma detection of two fundamental vibration bands of SO2, at 7.35 microns and 8.69 microns, in the transmission spectrum of WASP-107b using the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) of the JWST. This discovery establishes WASP-107b as the second irradiated exoplanet with confirmed photochemistry, extending the temperature range of exoplanets exhibiting detected photochemistry from ~1200 K down to ~740 K. Additionally, our spectral analysis reveals the presence of silicate clouds, which are strongly favoured (~7-sigma) over simpler cloud setups. Furthermore, water is detected (~12-sigma), but methane is not. These findings provide evidence of disequilibrium chemistry and indicate a dynamically active atmosphere with a super-solar metallicity.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2311_12515
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle SO2, silicate clouds, but no CH4 detected in a warm Neptune
Dyrek, Achrene
Min, Michiel
Decin, Leen
Bouwman, Jeroen
Crouzet, Nicolas
Mollière, Paul
Lagage, Pierre-Olivier
Konings, Thomas
Tremblin, Pascal
Güdel, Manuel
Pye, John
Waters, Rens
Henning, Thomas
Vandenbussche, Bart
Martinez, Francisco Ardevol
Argyriou, Ioannis
Ducrot, Elsa
Heinke, Linus
Van Looveren, Gwenael
Absil, Olivier
Barrado, David
Baudoz, Pierre
Boccaletti, Anthony
Cossou, Christophe
Coulais, Alain
Edwards, Billy
Gastaud, René
Glasse, Alistair
Glauser, Adrian
Greene, Thomas P.
Kendrew, Sarah
Krause, Oliver
Lahuis, Fred
Mueller, Michael
Olofsson, Goran
Patapis, Polychronis
Rouan, Daniel
Royer, Pierre
Scheithauer, Silvia
Waldmann, Ingo
Whiteford, Niall
Colina, Luis
van Dishoeck, Ewine F.
Greve, Thomas
Ostlin, Göran
Ray, Tom P.
Wright, Gillian
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
WASP-107b is a warm (~740 K) transiting planet with a Neptune-like mass of ~30.5 Earth masses and Jupiter-like radius of ~0.94 Jupiter radius, whose extended atmosphere is eroding. Previous observations showed evidence for water vapour and a thick high-altitude condensate layer in WASP-107b's atmosphere. Recently, photochemically produced sulphur dioxide (SO2) was detected in the atmosphere of a hot (~1200 K) Saturn-mass planet from transmission spectroscopy near 4.05 microns, but for temperatures below 1000 K sulphur is predicted to preferably form sulphur allotropes instead of SO2. Here we report the 9-sigma detection of two fundamental vibration bands of SO2, at 7.35 microns and 8.69 microns, in the transmission spectrum of WASP-107b using the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) of the JWST. This discovery establishes WASP-107b as the second irradiated exoplanet with confirmed photochemistry, extending the temperature range of exoplanets exhibiting detected photochemistry from ~1200 K down to ~740 K. Additionally, our spectral analysis reveals the presence of silicate clouds, which are strongly favoured (~7-sigma) over simpler cloud setups. Furthermore, water is detected (~12-sigma), but methane is not. These findings provide evidence of disequilibrium chemistry and indicate a dynamically active atmosphere with a super-solar metallicity.
title SO2, silicate clouds, but no CH4 detected in a warm Neptune
topic Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2311.12515