Photochemically produced SO2 in the atmosphere of WASP-39b

Shang-Min Tsai (), Elspeth K. H. Lee, Diana Powell, Peter Gao, Xi Zhang, Julianne Moses, Eric Hébrard, Olivia Venot, Vivien Parmentier, Sean Jordan, Renyu Hu, Munazza K. Alam, Lili Alderson, Natalie M. Batalha, Jacob L. Bean, Björn Benneke, Carver J. Bierson, Ryan P. Brady, Ludmila Carone, Aarynn L. Carter, Katy L. Chubb, Julie Inglis, Jérémy Leconte, Michael Line, Mercedes López-Morales, Yamila Miguel, Karan Molaverdikhani, Zafar Rustamkulov, David K. Sing, Kevin B. Stevenson, Hannah R. Wakeford, Jeehyun Yang, Keshav Aggarwal, Robin Baeyens, Saugata Barat, Miguel Val-Borro, Tansu Daylan, Jonathan J. Fortney, Kevin France, Jayesh M. Goyal, David Grant, James Kirk, Laura Kreidberg, Amy Louca, Sarah E. Moran, Sagnick Mukherjee, Evert Nasedkin, Kazumasa Ohno, Benjamin V. Rackham, Seth Redfield, Jake Taylor, Pascal Tremblin, Channon Visscher, Nicole L. Wallack, Luis Welbanks, Allison Youngblood, Eva-Maria Ahrer, Natasha E. Batalha, Patrick Behr, Zachory K. Berta-Thompson, Jasmina Blecic, S. L. Casewell, Ian J. M. Crossfield, Nicolas Crouzet, Patricio E. Cubillos, Leen Decin, Jean-Michel Désert, Adina D. Feinstein, Neale P. Gibson, Joseph Harrington, Kevin Heng, Thomas Henning, Eliza M.-R. Kempton, Jessica Krick, Pierre-Olivier Lagage, Monika Lendl, Joshua D. Lothringer, Megan Mansfield, N. J. Mayne, Thomas Mikal-Evans, Enric Palle, Everett Schlawin, Oliver Shorttle, Peter J. Wheatley and Sergei N. Yurchenko
Additional contact information
Shang-Min Tsai: University of Oxford
Elspeth K. H. Lee: University of Bern
Diana Powell: Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian
Peter Gao: Carnegie Institution for Science
Xi Zhang: University of California, Santa Cruz
Julianne Moses: Space Science Institute
Eric Hébrard: University of Exeter
Olivia Venot: Université de Paris Cité and Univ. Paris Est Creteil, CNRS, LISA
Vivien Parmentier: Université Côte d’Azur, Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur, CNRS, Laboratoire Lagrange
Sean Jordan: University of Cambridge
Renyu Hu: California Institute of Technology
Munazza K. Alam: Carnegie Institution for Science
Lili Alderson: University of Bristol
Natalie M. Batalha: University of California, Santa Cruz
Jacob L. Bean: University of Chicago
Björn Benneke: Université de Montréal
Carver J. Bierson: Arizona State University
Ryan P. Brady: University College London
Ludmila Carone: Austrian Academy of Sciences
Aarynn L. Carter: University of California, Santa Cruz
Katy L. Chubb: University of St Andrews
Julie Inglis: California Institute of Technology
Jérémy Leconte: Université de Bordeaux
Michael Line: Arizona State University
Mercedes López-Morales: Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian
Yamila Miguel: University of Leiden
Karan Molaverdikhani: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
Zafar Rustamkulov: Johns Hopkins University
David K. Sing: Johns Hopkins University
Kevin B. Stevenson: Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory
Hannah R. Wakeford: University of Bristol
Jeehyun Yang: California Institute of Technology
Keshav Aggarwal: Indian Institute of Technology Indore
Robin Baeyens: University of Amsterdam
Saugata Barat: University of Amsterdam
Miguel Val-Borro: Planetary Science Institute
Tansu Daylan: Princeton University
Jonathan J. Fortney: University of California, Santa Cruz
Kevin France: University of Colorado Boulder
Jayesh M. Goyal: National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER), Homi Bhabha National Institute (HBNI)
David Grant: University of Bristol
James Kirk: Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian
Laura Kreidberg: Max Planck Institute for Astronomy
Amy Louca: University of Leiden
Sarah E. Moran: University of Arizona
Sagnick Mukherjee: University of California, Santa Cruz
Evert Nasedkin: Max Planck Institute for Astronomy
Kazumasa Ohno: University of California, Santa Cruz
Benjamin V. Rackham: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Seth Redfield: Wesleyan University
Jake Taylor: University of Oxford
Pascal Tremblin: CEA, CNRS, Univ. Paris-Sud, UVSQ, Université Paris-Saclay
Channon Visscher: Space Science Institute
Nicole L. Wallack: Carnegie Institution for Science
Luis Welbanks: Arizona State University
Allison Youngblood: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Eva-Maria Ahrer: University of Warwick
Natasha E. Batalha: NASA Ames Research Center
Patrick Behr: University of Colorado Boulder
Zachory K. Berta-Thompson: University of Colorado Boulder
Jasmina Blecic: New York University Abu Dhabi
S. L. Casewell: University of Leicester
Ian J. M. Crossfield: University of Kansas
Nicolas Crouzet: University of Leiden
Patricio E. Cubillos: Austrian Academy of Sciences
Leen Decin: KU Leuven
Jean-Michel Désert: University of Amsterdam
Adina D. Feinstein: University of Chicago
Neale P. Gibson: Trinity College Dublin
Joseph Harrington: University of Central Florida
Kevin Heng: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
Thomas Henning: Max Planck Institute for Astronomy
Eliza M.-R. Kempton: University of Maryland
Jessica Krick: California Institute of Technology
Pierre-Olivier Lagage: CEA, CNRS, Univ. Paris-Sud, UVSQ, Université Paris-Saclay
Monika Lendl: Université de Genève
Joshua D. Lothringer: Utah Valley University
Megan Mansfield: University of Arizona
N. J. Mayne: University of Exeter
Thomas Mikal-Evans: Max Planck Institute for Astronomy
Enric Palle: Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC)
Everett Schlawin: University of Arizona
Oliver Shorttle: University of Cambridge
Peter J. Wheatley: University of Warwick
Sergei N. Yurchenko: University College London

Nature, 2023, vol. 617, issue 7961, 483-487

Abstract: Abstract Photochemistry is a fundamental process of planetary atmospheres that regulates the atmospheric composition and stability1. However, no unambiguous photochemical products have been detected in exoplanet atmospheres so far. Recent observations from the JWST Transiting Exoplanet Community Early Release Science Program2,3 found a spectral absorption feature at 4.05 μm arising from sulfur dioxide (SO2) in the atmosphere of WASP-39b. WASP-39b is a 1.27-Jupiter-radii, Saturn-mass (0.28 MJ) gas giant exoplanet orbiting a Sun-like star with an equilibrium temperature of around 1,100 K (ref. 4). The most plausible way of generating SO2 in such an atmosphere is through photochemical processes5,6. Here we show that the SO2 distribution computed by a suite of photochemical models robustly explains the 4.05-μm spectral feature identified by JWST transmission observations7 with NIRSpec PRISM (2.7σ)8 and G395H (4.5σ)9. SO2 is produced by successive oxidation of sulfur radicals freed when hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is destroyed. The sensitivity of the SO2 feature to the enrichment of the atmosphere by heavy elements (metallicity) suggests that it can be used as a tracer of atmospheric properties, with WASP-39b exhibiting an inferred metallicity of about 10× solar. We further point out that SO2 also shows observable features at ultraviolet and thermal infrared wavelengths not available from the existing observations.

Date: 2023
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-05902-2 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:617:y:2023:i:7961:d:10.1038_s41586-023-05902-2

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-05902-2

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().