Early Release Science of the exoplanet WASP-39b with JWST NIRSpec PRISM

• Published in: Nature (London) Vol. 614; no. 7949; pp. 659 - 663
• Main Authors: Rustamkulov, Z., Sing, D. K., Mukherjee, S., May, E. M., Kirk, J., Schlawin, E., Line, M. R., Piaulet, C., Carter, A. L., Batalha, N. E., Goyal, J. M., López-Morales, M., Lothringer, J. D., MacDonald, R. J., Moran, S. E., Stevenson, K. B., Wakeford, H. R., Espinoza, N., Bean, J. L., Batalha, N. M., Benneke, B., Berta-Thompson, Z. K., Crossfield, I. J. M., Gao, P., Kreidberg, L., Powell, D. K., Cubillos, P. E., Gibson, N. P., Leconte, J., Molaverdikhani, K., Nikolov, N. K., Parmentier, V., Roy, P., Taylor, J., Turner, J. D., Wheatley, P. J., Aggarwal, K., Ahrer, E., Alam, M. K., Alderson, L., Allen, N. H., Banerjee, A., Barat, S., Barrado, D., Barstow, J. K., Bell, T. J., Blecic, J., Brande, J., Casewell, S., Changeat, Q., Chubb, K. L., Crouzet, N., Daylan, T., Decin, L., Désert, J., Mikal-Evans, T., Feinstein, A. D., Flagg, L., Fortney, J. J., Harrington, J., Heng, K., Hong, Y., Hu, R., Iro, N., Kataria, T., Kempton, E. M.-R., Krick, J., Lendl, M., Lillo-Box, J., Louca, A., Lustig-Yaeger, J., Mancini, L., Mansfield, M., Mayne, N. J., Miguel, Y., Morello, G., Ohno, K., Palle, E., Petit dit de la Roche, D. J. M., Rackham, B. V., Radica, M., Ramos-Rosado, L., Redfield, S., Rogers, L. K., Shkolnik, E. L., Southworth, J., Teske, J., Tremblin, P., Tucker, G. S., Venot, O., Waalkes, W. C., Welbanks, L., Zhang, X., Zieba, S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 23-02-2023; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 639/33/34/862; 639/33/445/824; 639/33/445/862; Alkali metals; Atmosphere; Atmospheric models; Atmospheric transmission; Carbon dioxide; Chemical composition; Chemical reactions; Chemical speciation; Cosmic rays; Extrasolar planets; Gas giant planets; Hubble Space Telescope; Humanities and Social Sciences; Jupiter; Jupiter atmosphere; Life Sciences; Light; Metallicity; multidisciplinary; Photochemistry; Resolution; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Sensors; Space telescopes; Sulfur dioxide; Telescopes; Tracers; Transit; Water vapor; Wavelength
• ISSN: 0028-0836; 1476-4687
• DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-05677-y

Transmission spectroscopy
1
–
3
of exoplanets has revealed signatures of water vapour, aerosols and alkali metals in a few dozen exoplanet atmospheres
4
,
5
. However, these previous inferences with the Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescopes were hindered by the observations’ relatively narrow wavelength range and spectral resolving power, which precluded the unambiguous identification of other chemical species—in particular the primary carbon-bearing molecules
6
,
7
. Here we report a broad-wavelength 0.5–5.5 µm atmospheric transmission spectrum of WASP-39b
8
, a 1,200 K, roughly Saturn-mass, Jupiter-radius exoplanet, measured with the JWST NIRSpec’s PRISM mode
9
as part of the JWST Transiting Exoplanet Community Early Release Science Team Program
10
–
12
. We robustly detect several chemical species at high significance, including Na (19
σ
), H
2
O (33
σ
), CO
2
(28
σ
) and CO (7
σ
). The non-detection of CH
4
, combined with a strong CO
2
feature, favours atmospheric models with a super-solar atmospheric metallicity. An unanticipated absorption feature at 4 µm is best explained by SO
2
(2.7
σ
), which could be a tracer of atmospheric photochemistry. These observations demonstrate JWST’s sensitivity to a rich diversity of exoplanet compositions and chemical processes.
A broad-wavelength 0.5–5.5 µm atmospheric transmission spectrum of WASP-39b, a 1,200 K, roughly Saturn-mass, Jupiter-radius exoplanet, demonstrates JWST’s sensitivity to a rich diversity of exoplanet compositions and chemical processes.