The heat map above shows the result of the atmospheric analysis of two molecules. All analyzes presented have the CO2 molecule on the y-axis. In the upper left we have CH4, in the middle we have CO, in the upper right we have H2O, in the lower left we have H2S, in the middle we have NH3, and on the bottom right we have HCN. All molecules were produced in volume mixing ratio. We obtained the width at each mass level, and calculated the reduced χ 2 to find the best fit for the width regression. – astro-ph.EP
We image the 1.35+/-0.07 Earth-radius planet L 98-59 c using the Wide Field Camera~3 on the Hubble Space Telescope. L 98-59 is a nearby (10.6 pc), bright (H = 7.4 mag), M3V star with three small orbiting planets.
As one of the closest known multiplanet systems, L 98-59 offers one of the best opportunities to examine and compare the atmospheres of rocky planets that formed in the same interstellar environment. We measured the transfer rate of L 98-59 c during a single trip, and the extracted rate shows circumstantial evidence for frequency-dependent depth variations that may indicate the presence of of space.
Forward modeling was used to constrain possible models of the planet’s atmosphere based on the shape of the transmission waves. Although L 98-59 is a very quiet star, we have seen evidence of stellar activity, so we cannot rule out a situation where the source of the signal arises from inhomogeneities on the surface of the star. While impressive, our results are inconclusive and more data are needed to confirm any atmospheric signal.
Fortunately, more data will soon be collected from HST and JWST. If this result can be confirmed with more data, L 98-59 ce would be the first planet smaller than 2 Earth-radii with a detected atmosphere, and among the first small planets with known space to be studied in detail by JWST.
Thomas Barclay, Kyle B. Sheppard, Natasha Latouf, Avi M. Mandell, Elisa V. Quintana, Emily A. Gilbert, Giuliano Liuzzi, Geronimo L. Villanueva, Giada Arney, Jonathan Brande, Knicole D. Columbus, Giovanni Covone, Ian JM Crossfield, Mario Damiano, Shawn D. Domagal-Goldman, Thomas J. Fauchez, Stefano Fiscale, Francesco Gallo, Christina L. Hedges, Renyu Hu, Edwin S. Kite, Daniel Koll, Ravi K. Kopparapu, Veselin B. Kostov, Laura Kreidberg, Eric D. Lopez, James Mang, Caroline V. Morley, Fergal Mullally, Susan E. Mullally, Daria Pidhorodetska, Joshua E. Schlieder, Laura D. Vega, Allison Youngblood, Sebastian Zieba
Comment: Submitted to AAS Journals
Subjects: Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP)
Cited by: arXiv:2301.10866 [astro-ph.EP] (or arXiv:2301.10866v1 [astro-ph.EP] for this type)
Production history
From: Thomas Barclay
[v1] January 25, 2023 23:21:37 UTC (11,535 KB)
https://arxiv.org/abs/2301.10866
Astrology