Aluminium oxide in the atmosphere of hot Jupiter WASP-43b
| Autor: | Christiane Helling, Ingo Waldmann, Katy L. Chubb, Michiel Min, Yui Kawashima |
|---|---|
| Přispěvatelé: | University of St Andrews. School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St Andrews. St Andrews Centre for Exoplanet Science |
| Rok vydání: | 2020 |
| Předmět: |
010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences
Opacity Infrared FOS: Physical sciences Astrophysics planetary systems [Infrared] Astrophysics::Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics 01 natural sciences Atmosphere 0103 physical sciences Hot Jupiter QB Astronomy Astrophysics::Solar and Stellar Astrophysics QD 010303 astronomy & astrophysics Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM) QC Astrophysics::Galaxy Astrophysics 0105 earth and related environmental sciences QB Physics Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP) Molecular data James Webb Space Telescope Astronomy and Astrophysics DAS QD Chemistry Exoplanet gaseous planets [Planets and satellites] Data point QC Physics 13. Climate action Space and Planetary Science atmospheres [Planets and satellites] Astrophysics::Earth and Planetary Astrophysics Astrophysics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics Wide Field Camera 3 Astrophysics - Earth and Planetary Astrophysics |
| Zdroj: | Astronomy & Astrophysics |
| ISSN: | 0004-6361 |
| DOI: | 10.1051/0004-6361/201937267 |
| Popis: | We have conducted a re-analysis of publicly available Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field Camera 3 (HST WFC3) transmission data for the hot-Jupiter exoplanet WASP-43b, using the Bayesian retrieval package Tau-REx. We report evidence of AlO in transmission to a high level of statistical significance (> 5-sigma in comparison to a flat model, and 3.4-sigma in comparison to a model with H2O only). We find no evidence of the presence of CO, CO2, or CH4 based on the available HST WFC3 data or on Spitzer IRAC data. We demonstrate that AlO is the molecule that fits the data to the highest level of confidence out of all molecules for which high-temperature opacity data currently exists in the infrared region covered by the HST WFC3 instrument, and that the subsequent inclusion of Spitzer IRAC data points in our retrieval further supports the presence of AlO. H2O is the only other molecule we find to be statistically significant in this region. AlO is not expected from the equilibrium chemistry at the temperatures and pressures of the atmospheric layer that is being probed by the observed data. Its presence therefore implies direct evidence of some disequilibrium processes with links to atmospheric dynamics. Implications for future study using instruments such as the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) are discussed, along with future opacity needs. Comparisons are made with previous studies into WASP-43b. Accepted for publication in A&A. 16 pages, 7 figures |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
| Externí odkaz: |
|