Transmission spectrum of L98-59 d acquired the usage of transitspectroscopy. Credit score: Gressierof et al., 2024.
The use of the James Webb Area Telescope (JWST), astronomers from the Area Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland and in different places have carried out transmission spectroscopy of a close-by super-Earth exoplanet referred to as L98-59 d. Result of those observations, to be had in a analysis paper printed August 28 at the pre-print server arXiv, counsel that the planet has a sulfur-rich surroundings.
L98-59 is a brilliant M-dwarf superstar positioned some 34.6 mild years away. It’s identified to be orbited through no less than 4 planets, and one in all them is L98-59 d—a super-Earth about 58% greater than the Earth, with a mass of two.31 Earth lots. L98-59 d orbits its host each and every 7.45 days, at a distance of roughly 0.05 AU. The planet’s equilibrium temperature is estimated to be 416 Ok.
For the reason that little or no is understood in regards to the surroundings of L98-59 d, a staff of astronomers led through STScI’s Amélie Gressierof hired JWST’s Close to Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) to accomplish transmission spectroscopic observations of this planet. The observations have been carried out as a part of the JWST Assured Time Observations (GTO) cycle 1 program.
“We offered one transit remark of the super-Earth L98-59 d with the JWST NIRSpec G395H mode,” the researchers write within the paper.
By way of examining the acquired knowledge, Gressierof’s staff discovered hints of sulfur-bearing species within the surroundings of L98-59 d. Additionally, hydrogen and helium seem to be background gases within the planet’s surroundings.
In keeping with the paper, the ambience of L98-59 d showcases a prime abundance of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and sulfur dioxide (SO2). They excluded the likelihood that this may well be led to through stellar contamination.
The astronomers word that the presence of sulfur dioxide within the atmospheres of exoplanets like L98-59 d is proof of photo-chemistry. Moreover, sulfur species and clouds are typically anticipated in large planets and brown dwarf atmospheres. They upload that the power to come across sulfur dioxide in exoplanet atmospheres supplies a a very powerful take a look at for various planet formation fashions.
Summing up the effects, the authors of the paper underline the significance of additional transit observations of L98-59 d as a way to ascertain their new findings.
“If showed, the detection of sulfur-bearing species in an hydrogen-dominated surroundings round L98-59 d, a planet with a radius of one.58 Earth radii, can be an important outcome, because it lies proper on the cutoff for planets to have retained their number one hydrogen-helium surroundings,” the scientists conclude.
Additional information:
Amélie Gressier et al, Hints of a sulfur-rich surroundings across the 1.6 R⊕ Tremendous-Earth L98-59 d from JWST NIRSpec G395H transmission spectroscopy, arXiv (2024). DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2408.15855
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