WASP-96b
WASP-96b orbits its Sun-like star WASP-96 every 3.4 Earth days at a distance just one-ninth of the distance between Mercury and the Sun.
The hot-Jupiter exoplanet was found via the transiting method by Coel Hellier et.al. in 2013 as part of the WASP-South survey.
Atmosphere
WASP-96b's spectrum was one of the images featured in the initial science release from the James Webb Space Telescope in July 2022. The spectrum confirmed the presence of water, as well as providing evidence for "clouds and hazes" within the planet's atmosphere. Prior to this discovery, WASP-96b was thought to be free of clouds.
While the light curve released confirms properties of the planet that had already been determined from other observations – the existence, size, and orbit of the planet – the transmission spectrum revealed previously hidden details of the atmosphere: the unambiguous signature of water, indications of haze, and evidence of clouds that were suspected based on prior observations.
A study in 2023 measured the abundance of certain chemical species in the atmosphere of WASP-96b as seen in the table below. Models of the atmosphere with patchy clouds and hazes best describes the observations through the James Webb Space Telescope.
| Chemical Species | log(VMR) | Concentration |
|---|---|---|
| Water vapor | -3.59 −0.35 |
257 ppm |
| Carbon monoxide | -3.25 −5.06 |
562 ppm |
| Carbon dioxide | -4.38 −0.57 |
41.7 ppm |
| Sodium | -6.85 −3.10 |
141 ppb |
| Potassium | -8.04 −1.71 |
9.12 ppb |
See also
References
- ^ Hellier, Coel; Anderson, D. R.; Cameron, A. Collier; Delrez, L.; Gillon, M.; Jehin, E.; Lendl, M.; Maxted, P. F. L.; Pepe, F.; Pollacco, D.; Queloz, D.; Ségransan, D.; Smalley, B.; Smith, A. M. S.; Southworth, J.; Triaud, A. H. M. J.; Udry, S.; West, R. G. (2013), "Transiting hot Jupiters from WASP-South, Euler and TRAPPIST: WASP-95b to WASP-101b", Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 440 (3): 1982–1992, arXiv:1310.5630, Bibcode:2014MNRAS.440.1982H, doi:10.1093/mnras/stu410
- ^ Bonomo, A. S.; Desidera, S.; et al. (June 2017). "The GAPS Programme with HARPS-N at TNG. XIV. Investigating giant planet migration history via improved eccentricity and mass determination for 231 transiting planets". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 602: A107. arXiv:1704.00373. Bibcode:2017A&A...602A.107B. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201629882. S2CID 118923163.
- ^ "NASA's Webb Reveals Steamy Atmosphere of Distant Planet in Detail". NASA. 11 July 2022. Retrieved 12 July 2022.
- ^ Cesari, Thaddeus (2022-07-11). "NASA Shares List of Cosmic Targets for Webb Telescope's First Images". NASA. Archived from the original on 2022-07-12. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
- ^ Jorgenson, Amber (2018-05-08). "WASP-96b: the cloudless exoplanet". Astronomy.com. Retrieved 2022-07-08.
- ^ McGruder, Chima D.; López-Morales, Mercedes; Kirk, James; Espinoza, Néstor; Rackham, Benjamin V.; Alam, Munazza K.; Allen, Natalie; Nikolov, Nikolay; Weaver, Ian C.; Ortiz Ceballos, Kevin; Osip, David J.; Apai, Dániel; Jordán, Andrés; Fortney, Jonathan J. (2022), "ACCESS: Confirmation of a Clear Atmosphere for WASP-96b and a Comparison of Light Curve Detrending Techniques", The Astronomical Journal, 164 (4): 134, arXiv:2207.03479, Bibcode:2022AJ....164..134M, doi:10.3847/1538-3881/ac7f2e, S2CID 250334756
- ^ Samra, D.; Helling, Ch.; Chubb, K. L.; Min, M.; Carone, L.; Schneider, A. D. (2023), "Clouds form on the hot Saturn JWST ERO target WASP-96b", Astronomy & Astrophysics, 669: A142, arXiv:2211.00633, Bibcode:2023A&A...669A.142S, doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202244939, S2CID 253244425
- ^ Taylor, Jake; et al. (May 2023). "Awesome SOSS: Atmospheric Characterisation of WASP-96 b using the JWST Early Release Observations". MNRAS. 524 (1): 817–834. arXiv:2305.16887. Bibcode:2023MNRAS.524..817T. doi:10.1093/mnras/stad1547.
External links
Media related to WASP-96 b at Wikimedia Commons
