The Astrophysical Journal Letters (Jan 2023)
JWST-TST DREAMS: Quartz Clouds in the Atmosphere of WASP-17b
- David Grant,
- Nikole K. Lewis,
- Hannah R. Wakeford,
- Natasha E. Batalha,
- Ana Glidden,
- Jayesh Goyal,
- Elijah Mullens,
- Ryan J. MacDonald,
- Erin M. May,
- Sara Seager,
- Kevin B. Stevenson,
- Jeff A. Valenti,
- Channon Visscher,
- Lili Alderson,
- Natalie H. Allen,
- Caleb I. Cañas,
- Knicole Colón,
- Mark Clampin,
- Néstor Espinoza,
- Amélie Gressier,
- Jingcheng Huang,
- Zifan Lin,
- Douglas Long,
- Dana R. Louie,
- Maria Peña-Guerrero,
- Sukrit Ranjan,
- Kristin S. Sotzen,
- Daniel Valentine,
- Jay Anderson,
- William O. Balmer,
- Andrea Bellini,
- Kielan K. W. Hoch,
- Jens Kammerer,
- Mattia Libralato,
- C. Matt Mountain,
- Marshall D. Perrin,
- Laurent Pueyo,
- Emily Rickman,
- Isabel Rebollido,
- Sangmo Tony Sohn,
- Roeland P. van der Marel,
- Laura L. Watkins
Affiliations
- David Grant
- ORCiD
- HH Wills Physics Laboratory, University of Bristol , Tyndall Avenue, Bristol, BS8 1TL, UK
- Nikole K. Lewis
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy and Carl Sagan Institute, Cornell University , 122 Sciences Drive, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
- Hannah R. Wakeford
- ORCiD
- HH Wills Physics Laboratory, University of Bristol , Tyndall Avenue, Bristol, BS8 1TL, UK
- Natasha E. Batalha
- ORCiD
- NASA Ames Research Center , Moffett Field, CA 94035, USA
- Ana Glidden
- ORCiD
- Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology , Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology , Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
- Jayesh Goyal
- ORCiD
- School of Earth and Planetary Sciences (SEPS), National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER) , HBNI, Odisha, India
- Elijah Mullens
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy and Carl Sagan Institute, Cornell University , 122 Sciences Drive, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
- Ryan J. MacDonald
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, University of Michigan , 1085 S. University Ave., Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
- Erin M. May
- ORCiD
- Johns Hopkins APL , 11100 Johns Hopkins Rd, Laurel, MD 20723, USA
- Sara Seager
- ORCiD
- Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology , Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology , Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology , 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
- Kevin B. Stevenson
- ORCiD
- Johns Hopkins APL , 11100 Johns Hopkins Rd, Laurel, MD 20723, USA
- Jeff A. Valenti
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Channon Visscher
- ORCiD
- Chemistry & Planetary Sciences, Dordt University , Sioux Center, IA 51250, USA; Center for Extrasolar Planetary Systems, Space Science Institute , Boulder, CO 80301, USA
- Lili Alderson
- ORCiD
- HH Wills Physics Laboratory, University of Bristol , Tyndall Avenue, Bristol, BS8 1TL, UK
- Natalie H. Allen
- ORCiD
- William H. Miller III Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University , Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Caleb I. Cañas
- ORCiD
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center , Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
- Knicole Colón
- ORCiD
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center , Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
- Mark Clampin
- ORCiD
- NASA Headquarters , 300 E Street SW, Washington, DC 20546, USA
- Néstor Espinoza
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA; William H. Miller III Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University , Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Amélie Gressier
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Jingcheng Huang
- ORCiD
- Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology , Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
- Zifan Lin
- ORCiD
- Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology , Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
- Douglas Long
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Dana R. Louie
- ORCiD
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center , Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
- Maria Peña-Guerrero
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Sukrit Ranjan
- ORCiD
- Lunar and Planetary Laboratory/Department of Planetary Sciences, University of Arizona , Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
- Kristin S. Sotzen
- ORCiD
- Johns Hopkins APL , 11100 Johns Hopkins Rd, Laurel, MD 20723, USA; William H. Miller III Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University , Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Daniel Valentine
- ORCiD
- HH Wills Physics Laboratory, University of Bristol , Tyndall Avenue, Bristol, BS8 1TL, UK
- Jay Anderson
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- William O. Balmer
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA; William H. Miller III Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University , Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Andrea Bellini
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Kielan K. W. Hoch
- ORCiD
- Center for Astrophysics and Space Sciences, University of California , San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
- Jens Kammerer
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Mattia Libralato
- ORCiD
- AURA for the European Space Agency (ESA), Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- C. Matt Mountain
- Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy , 1331 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Suite 1475, Washington, DC 20004, USA
- Marshall D. Perrin
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Laurent Pueyo
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Emily Rickman
- ORCiD
- European Space Agency (ESA), ESA Office, Space Telescope Science Institute , Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Isabel Rebollido
- ORCiD
- Centro de Astrobiología (CAB, CSIC-INTA) , ESAC Campus Camino Bajo del Castillo, s/n, Villanueva de la Cañada, E-28692 Madrid, Spain
- Sangmo Tony Sohn
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Roeland P. van der Marel
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA; William H. Miller III Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University , Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Laura L. Watkins
- ORCiD
- AURA for the European Space Agency (ESA), Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/acfc3b
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 956,
no. 2
p. L32
Abstract
Clouds are prevalent in many of the exoplanet atmospheres that have been observed to date. For transiting exoplanets, we know if clouds are present because they mute spectral features and cause wavelength-dependent scattering. While the exact composition of these clouds is largely unknown, this information is vital to understanding the chemistry and energy budget of planetary atmospheres. In this work, we observe one transit of the hot Jupiter WASP-17b with JWST’s Mid-Infrared Instrument Low Resolution Spectrometer and generate a transmission spectrum from 5 to 12 μ m. These wavelengths allow us to probe absorption due to the vibrational modes of various predicted cloud species. Our transmission spectrum shows additional opacity centered at 8.6 μ m, and detailed atmospheric modeling and retrievals identify this feature as SiO _2 (s) (quartz) clouds. The SiO _2 (s) clouds model is preferred at 3.5–4.2 σ versus a cloud-free model and at 2.6 σ versus a generic aerosol prescription. We find the SiO _2 (s) clouds are composed of small ∼0.01 μ m particles, which extend to high altitudes in the atmosphere. The atmosphere also shows a depletion of H _2 O, a finding consistent with the formation of high-temperature aerosols from oxygen-rich species. This work is part of a series of studies by our JWST Telescope Scientist Team (JWST-TST), in which we will use Guaranteed Time Observations to perform Deep Reconnaissance of Exoplanet Atmospheres through Multi-instrument Spectroscopy (DREAMS).
Keywords
