Exoplanets that orbit close to their host stars are much more highly irradiated than their solar system counterparts. Understanding the thermal structures and appearances of these planets requires investigating how their atmospheres respond to such extreme stellar forcing. We present spectroscopic thermal emission measurements as a function of orbital phase ("phase-curve observations") for the highly irradiated exoplanet WASP-43b spanning three full planet rotations using the Hubble Space Telescope. With these data, we construct a map of the planet's atmospheric thermal structure, from which we find large day-night temperature variations at all measured altitudes and a monotonically decreasing temperature with pressure at all longitudes. We also derive a Bond albedo of 0.18(-0.12)(+0.07) and an altitude dependence in the hot-spot offset relative to the substellar point.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1256758 | DOI Listing |
Interactions between magma oceans and overlying atmospheres on young rocky planets leads to an evolving feedback of outgassing, greenhouse forcing, and mantle melt fraction. Previous studies have predominantly focused on the solidification of oxidized Earth-similar planets, but the diversity in mean density and irradiation observed in the low-mass exoplanet census motivate exploration of strongly varying geochemical scenarios. We aim to explore how variable redox properties alter the duration of magma ocean solidification, the equilibrium thermodynamic state, melt fraction of the mantle, and atmospheric composition.
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December 2024
J. Mike Walker '66 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA.
Phase stability, and the limits thereof, are a central concern of materials thermodynamics. However, the temperature limits of equilibrium liquid stability in chemical systems have only been widely characterized under constant (typically atmospheric) pressure conditions, whereunder these limits are represented by the eutectic. At higher pressures, the eutectic will shift in both temperature and chemical composition, opening a wide thermodynamic parameter space over which the absolute limit of liquid stability, i.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSci Rep
November 2024
Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Giessenbachstrasse, 85748, Garching, Germany.
Studying the atmospheres of exoplanets is one of the most promising ways to learn about distant worlds beyond our solar system. The composition of an exoplanet's atmosphere can provide critical insights into its geology and potential habitability. For instance, the presence of certain molecules such as water vapor, oxygen, or methane have been proposed to indicate the possibility of life.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAstrobiology
October 2024
Austrian Academy of Sciences, Space Research Institute, Graz, Austria.
Astrobiology
October 2024
Space Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Graz Austria.
In Lammer et al. (2024), we defined Earth-like habitats (EHs) as rocky exoplanets within the habitable zone of complex life (HZCL) on which Earth-like N-O-dominated atmospheres with minor amounts of CO can exist, and derived a formulation for estimating the maximum number of EHs in the galaxy given realistic probabilistic requirements that have to be met for an EH to evolve. In this study, we apply this formulation to the galactic disk by considering only requirements that are already scientifically quantifiable.
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