, previously have revealed isolated ingredients of this broiling planet’s atmosphere, the new readings from Webb provide a full menu of atoms, molecules, and even signs of active chemistry and clouds.A hint of how these clouds might look up close is also provided by the latest data: they are likely broken up rather than a single, uniform blanket over the planet.
“We observed the exoplanet with multiple instruments that, together, provide a broad swath of the infrared spectrum and a panoply of chemical fingerprints inaccessible until [this mission],” said Natalie Batalha. “Data like these are a game changer.” Batalha is an astronomer at the University of California, Santa Cruz, who contributed to and helped coordinate the new research.
“This is the first time we see concrete evidence of photochemistry – chemical reactions initiated by energetic stellar light – on exoplanets,” said Shang-Min Tsai, a researcher at thein the United Kingdom and lead author of the paper explaining the origin of sulfur dioxide in WASP-39 b’s atmosphere. “I see this as a really promising outlook for advancing our understanding of exoplanet atmospheres with [this mission].
Why do we waste so much time on useless planets? I have not interest in planets we couldn’t possibly land on!!!
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Direct Evidence of Photochemistry in an Exoplanet AtmospherePhotochemistry is a fundamental process of planetary atmospheres that is integral to habitability, atmospheric composition and stability, and aerosol formation. However, no unambiguous photochemical products have been detected in exoplanet atmospheres to date. Here we show that photochemically produced sulphur dioxide (SO$_2$) is present in the atmosphere of the hot, giant exoplanet WASP-39b, as constrained by data from the JWST Transiting Exoplanet Early Release Science Program and informed by a suite of photochemical models. We find that SO$_2$ is produced by successive oxidation of sulphur radicals freed when hydrogen sulphide (H$_2$S) is destroyed. The SO$_2$ distribution computed by the photochemical models robustly explains the 4.05 $μ$m spectral feature seen in JWST transmission spectra [Rustamkulov et al.(submitted), Alderson et al.(submitted)] and leads to observable features at ultraviolet and thermal infrared wavelengths not available from the current observations. The sensitivity of the SO$_2$ feature to the enrichment of heavy elements in the atmosphere ('metallicity') suggests that it can be used as a powerful tracer of atmospheric properties, with our results implying a metallicity of $\sim$10$\times$ solar for WASP-39b. Through providing improved constraints on bulk metallicity and sulphur abundance, the detection of SO$_2$ opens a new avenue for the investigation of giant-planet formation. Our work demonstrates that sulphur photochemistry may be readily observable for exoplanets with super-solar metallicity and equilibrium temperatures $\gtrsim$750 K. The confirmation of photochemistry through the agreement between theoretical predictions and observational data is pivotal for further atmospheric characterisation studies. arxiv Cool arxiv Why we just cannot send a rover over there or some sort of satellite to observe the planet? arxiv Nice
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