JWST NIRISS Transmission Spectroscopy of the Super-Earth GJ 357b, a Favourable Target for Atmospheric Retention

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Main Authors: Taylor, Jake, Radica, Michael, Chatterjee, Richard D., Hammond, Mark, Meier, Tobias, Aigrain, Suzanne, MacDonald, Ryan J., Albert, Loic, Benneke, Björn, Coulombe, Louis-Philippe, Cowan, Nicolas B., Dang, Lisa, Doyon, René, Flagg, Laura, Johnstone, Doug, Kaltenegger, Lisa, Lafrenière, David, Pelletier, Stefan, Piaulet-Ghorayeb, Caroline, Rowe, Jason F., Roy, Pierre-Alexis
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Taylor, Jake
Radica, Michael
Chatterjee, Richard D.
Hammond, Mark
Meier, Tobias
Aigrain, Suzanne
MacDonald, Ryan J.
Albert, Loic
Benneke, Björn
Coulombe, Louis-Philippe
Cowan, Nicolas B.
Dang, Lisa
Doyon, René
Flagg, Laura
Johnstone, Doug
Kaltenegger, Lisa
Lafrenière, David
Pelletier, Stefan
Piaulet-Ghorayeb, Caroline
Rowe, Jason F.
Roy, Pierre-Alexis
author_facet Taylor, Jake
Radica, Michael
Chatterjee, Richard D.
Hammond, Mark
Meier, Tobias
Aigrain, Suzanne
MacDonald, Ryan J.
Albert, Loic
Benneke, Björn
Coulombe, Louis-Philippe
Cowan, Nicolas B.
Dang, Lisa
Doyon, René
Flagg, Laura
Johnstone, Doug
Kaltenegger, Lisa
Lafrenière, David
Pelletier, Stefan
Piaulet-Ghorayeb, Caroline
Rowe, Jason F.
Roy, Pierre-Alexis
contents We present a JWST NIRISS/SOSS transmission spectrum of the super-Earth GJ 357 b: the first atmospheric observation of this exoplanet. Despite missing the first $\sim$40 % of the transit due to using an out-of-date ephemeris, we still recover a transmission spectrum that does not display any clear signs of atmospheric features. We perform a search for Gaussian-shaped absorption features within the data but find that this analysis yields comparable fits to the observations as a flat line. We compare the transmission spectrum to a grid of atmosphere models and reject, to 3-$σ$ confidence, atmospheres with metallicities $\lesssim$100$\times$ solar ($\sim$4 g/mol) with clouds at pressures down to 0.01 bar. We analyse how the retention of a secondary atmosphere on GJ 357 b may be possible due to its higher escape velocity compared to an Earth-sized planet and the exceptional inactivity of its host star relative to other M2.5V stars. The star's XUV luminosity decays below the threshold for rapid atmospheric escape early enough that the volcanic revival of an atmosphere of several bars of CO$_2$ is plausible, though subject to considerable uncertainty. Finally, we model the feasibility of detecting an atmosphere on GJ 357 b with MIRI/LRS, MIRI photometry, and NIRSpec/G395H. We find that, with two eclipses, it would be possible to detect features indicative of an atmosphere or surface. Further to this, with 3-4 transits, it would be possible to detect a 1 bar nitrogen-rich atmosphere with 1000 ppm of CO$_2$.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2505_24462
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle JWST NIRISS Transmission Spectroscopy of the Super-Earth GJ 357b, a Favourable Target for Atmospheric Retention
Taylor, Jake
Radica, Michael
Chatterjee, Richard D.
Hammond, Mark
Meier, Tobias
Aigrain, Suzanne
MacDonald, Ryan J.
Albert, Loic
Benneke, Björn
Coulombe, Louis-Philippe
Cowan, Nicolas B.
Dang, Lisa
Doyon, René
Flagg, Laura
Johnstone, Doug
Kaltenegger, Lisa
Lafrenière, David
Pelletier, Stefan
Piaulet-Ghorayeb, Caroline
Rowe, Jason F.
Roy, Pierre-Alexis
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
We present a JWST NIRISS/SOSS transmission spectrum of the super-Earth GJ 357 b: the first atmospheric observation of this exoplanet. Despite missing the first $\sim$40 % of the transit due to using an out-of-date ephemeris, we still recover a transmission spectrum that does not display any clear signs of atmospheric features. We perform a search for Gaussian-shaped absorption features within the data but find that this analysis yields comparable fits to the observations as a flat line. We compare the transmission spectrum to a grid of atmosphere models and reject, to 3-$σ$ confidence, atmospheres with metallicities $\lesssim$100$\times$ solar ($\sim$4 g/mol) with clouds at pressures down to 0.01 bar. We analyse how the retention of a secondary atmosphere on GJ 357 b may be possible due to its higher escape velocity compared to an Earth-sized planet and the exceptional inactivity of its host star relative to other M2.5V stars. The star's XUV luminosity decays below the threshold for rapid atmospheric escape early enough that the volcanic revival of an atmosphere of several bars of CO$_2$ is plausible, though subject to considerable uncertainty. Finally, we model the feasibility of detecting an atmosphere on GJ 357 b with MIRI/LRS, MIRI photometry, and NIRSpec/G395H. We find that, with two eclipses, it would be possible to detect features indicative of an atmosphere or surface. Further to this, with 3-4 transits, it would be possible to detect a 1 bar nitrogen-rich atmosphere with 1000 ppm of CO$_2$.
title JWST NIRISS Transmission Spectroscopy of the Super-Earth GJ 357b, a Favourable Target for Atmospheric Retention
topic Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.24462