Hu, Renyu; Bello-Arufe, Aaron; Zhang, Michael; Paragas, Kimberly; Zilinskas, Mantas; van Buchem, Christiaan; Bess, Michael; Patel, Jayshil; Ito, Yuichi; Damiano, Mario; Scheucher, Markus; Oza, Apurva V; Knutson, Heather A; Miguel, Yamila; Dragomir, Diana; Brandeker, Alexis; Demory, Brice-Olivier (2024). A secondary atmosphere on the rocky Exoplanet 55 Cancri e. Nature, 630(8017), pp. 609-612. Springer Nature 10.1038/s41586-024-07432-x
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Characterizing rocky exoplanets is a central endeavor of astronomy, and yet the search for atmospheres on rocky exoplanets has hitherto resulted in either tight upper limits on the atmospheric mass1-3 or inconclusive results4-6. The 1.95-REarth and 8.8-MEarth planet 55 Cnc e, with a predominantly rocky composition and an equilibrium temperature of ~2000 K, may have a volatile envelope (containing molecules made from a combination of C, H, O, N, S, and P elements) that accounts for up to a few percent of its radius7-13. The planet has been observed extensively with transmission spectroscopy14-22, and its thermal emission has been measured in broad photometric bands23-26. These observations disfavor a primordial H2/He-dominated atmosphere but cannot conclusively determine whether the planet has a secondary atmosphere27,28. Here we report a thermal emission spectrum of the planet obtained by JWST's NIRCam and MIRI instruments from 4 to 12 μm. The measurements rule out the scenario where the planet is a lava world shrouded by a tenuous atmosphere made of vaporized rock29-32, and indicate a bona fide volatile atmosphere likely rich in CO2 or CO. This atmosphere can be outgassed from and sustained by a magma ocean.
Item Type: |
Journal Article (Original Article) |
|---|---|
Division/Institute: |
08 Faculty of Science > Physics Institute 10 Strategic Research Centers > Center for Space and Habitability (CSH) |
UniBE Contributor: |
Demory, Brice-Olivier Denys |
Subjects: |
500 Science > 530 Physics 500 Science > 520 Astronomy |
ISSN: |
1476-4687 |
Publisher: |
Springer Nature |
Language: |
English |
Submitter: |
Pubmed Import |
Date Deposited: |
10 May 2024 07:20 |
Last Modified: |
21 Jun 2024 00:14 |
Publisher DOI: |
10.1038/s41586-024-07432-x |
PubMed ID: |
38718834 |
BORIS DOI: |
10.48350/196653 |
URI: |
https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/196653 |
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