Detection of an Atmosphere on a Rocky Exoplanet

Swain, Mark R.; Estrela, Raissa; Roudier, G.; Sotin, C.; Rimmer, Paul B.; Válio, Adriana; West, Robert A.; Pearson, Kyle A.; Huber-Feely, Noah; Zellem, Robert T.

doi:10.3847/1538-3881/abe879

Cited by 73 publications

(95 citation statements)

References 65 publications

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“…By subtracting the mean from each spectrum, we show that the recovered data points are all within 1σ. Comparing these to Swain et al (2021), we clearly highlight the disparity between our study and theirs: whereas they uncover spectral variations of ±200 ppm from the mean transit depth, both our pipelines yield spectra where 21 of the 25 data points (84%) lie within ±50 ppm of the mean transit depth, with no data points being more than 75 ppm from the mean.…”

Section: Comparison With Previous Workmentioning

confidence: 51%

“…While there is an offset between the spectra, normalizing them by their mean transit depth shows that they are consistent to within 1σ. However, the spectra recovered with both pipelines here differ significantly from those from Swain et al (2021).…”

Section: Comparison With Previous Workmentioning

confidence: 68%

“…During the review process of this paper, an independent study also analyzed the same HST WFC3 data of GJ 1132b. Swain et al (2021) found evidence for a slope over this wavelength region, attributed to an H 2 -dominated atmosphere with hazes, as well as spectral features that were proposed to be due to absorption by CH 4 and HCN. Their work suggested that GJ 1132b had lost its primordial envelope and gained a second atmosphere through volcanic processes that released H 2 captured in an early age.…”

Section: Comparison With Previous Workmentioning

confidence: 83%

“…We ran CASCADe using the same planet parameters and limb-darkening coefficients as discussed in Section 2.1. A comparison between these spectra, and to those obtained by Swain et al (2021), is given in Figure 10. We immediately notice a vertical offset in the spectra obtained by Iraclis and CASCADe.…”

Section: Comparison With Previous Workmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…As our extracted spectrum differs greatly from that of Swain et al (2021), we conducted an independent analysis of the data sets with an additional open-source pipeline: the Calibration of trAnsit Spectroscopy using CAusal Data (CASCADe 23 ). While Iraclis has been developed specifically for analyzing HST WFC3, CASCADe is an instrument-independent reduction pipeline and has been applied to both HST and Spitzer data sets.…”

Section: Comparison With Previous Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

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ARES.* V. No Evidence For Molecular Absorption in the HST WFC3 Spectrum of GJ 1132 b

Mugnai

Modirrousta-Galian

Edwards

et al. 2021

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We present a study on the spatially scanned spectroscopic observations of the transit of GJ 1132 b, a warm (∼500 K) super-Earth (1.13 R ⊕ ) that was obtained with the G141 grism (1.125-1.650 μm) of the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) on board the Hubble Space Telescope. We used the publicly available Iraclis pipeline to extract the planetary transmission spectra from the five visits and produced a precise transmission spectrum. We analyzed the spectrum using the TauREx3 atmospheric retrieval code, with which we show that the measurements do not contain molecular signatures in the investigated wavelength range and are best fit with a flat-line model. Our results suggest that the planet does not have a clear primordial, hydrogen-dominated atmosphere. Instead, GJ 1132 b could have a cloudy hydrogen-dominated atmosphere, have a very enriched secondary atmosphere, be airless, or have a tenuous atmosphere that has not been detected. Due to the narrow wavelength coverage of WFC3, these scenarios cannot be distinguished yet, but the James Webb Space Telescope may be capable of detecting atmospheric features, although several observations may be required to provide useful constraints.Unified Astronomy Thesaurus concepts: Exoplanet atmospheres (487); Astronomy data analysis (1858); Hubble Space Telescope (761); Exoplanets (498)

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Section: Comparison With Previous Workmentioning

confidence: 51%

Section: Comparison With Previous Workmentioning

confidence: 68%

Section: Comparison With Previous Workmentioning

confidence: 83%

Section: Comparison With Previous Workmentioning

confidence: 95%

Section: Comparison With Previous Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

ARES.* V. No Evidence For Molecular Absorption in the HST WFC3 Spectrum of GJ 1132 b

Mugnai

Modirrousta-Galian

Edwards

et al. 2021

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Effect of clouds on emission spectra for super Venus

Wolkenberg

Turrini

2022

Astrophys Space Sci

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We report a model study on the effects of clouds on emission spectra of super-Venus planets. Our goal is to assess possible ways to identify characteristic spectral features due to clouds. We show that it is possible to distinguish an impact of H2SO4 clouds on the CO2 absorption band at 4.8 μm for temperature profiles with and without a thermal inversion. The thermal inversion can help to distinguish the signal from high altitude clouds (85 km, ∼1 mbar). Featureless emission spectra are found for high altitude clouds (85 km, ∼1 mbar) with temperature profile without thermal inversion. More spectral features appear in the emission spectra with decreasing cloud top altitudes. The compactness of clouds has an inverse effect on emission spectra than cloud top altitudes. Small cloud scale heights reduce the signal and the CO2 absorption bands become flat.

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Disentangling atmospheric compositions of K2-18 b with next generation facilities

et al. 2021

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Recent analysis of the planet K2-18 b has shown the presence of water vapour in its atmosphere. While the H2O detection is significant, the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) WFC3 spectrum suggests three possible solutions of very different nature which can equally match the data. The three solutions are a primary cloudy atmosphere with traces of water vapour (cloudy sub-Neptune), a secondary atmosphere with a substantial amount (up to 50% Volume Mixing Ratio) of H2O (icy/water world) and/or an undetectable gas such as N2 (super-Earth). Additionally, the atmospheric pressure and the possible presence of a liquid/solid surface cannot be investigated with currently available observations. In this paper we used the best fit parameters from Tsiaras et al. (Nat. Astron. 3, 1086, 2019) to build James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and Ariel simulations of the three scenarios. We have investigated 18 retrieval cases, which encompass the three scenarios and different observational strategies with the two observatories. Retrieval results show that twenty combined transits should be enough for the Ariel mission to disentangle the three scenarios, while JWST would require only two transits if combining NIRISS and NIRSpec data. This makes K2-18 b an ideal target for atmospheric follow-ups by both facilities and highlights the capabilities of the next generation of space-based infrared observatories to provide a complete picture of low mass planets.

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Detection of an Atmosphere on a Rocky Exoplanet

Cited by 73 publications

References 65 publications

ARES.* V. No Evidence For Molecular Absorption in the HST WFC3 Spectrum of GJ 1132 b

ARES.* V. No Evidence For Molecular Absorption in the HST WFC3 Spectrum of GJ 1132 b

Effect of clouds on emission spectra for super Venus

Disentangling atmospheric compositions of K2-18 b with next generation facilities

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