The JWST has ushered in a new era in atmospheric characterisations of temperate low-mass exoplanets with recent detections of carbon-bearing molecules in the candidate Hycean world K2-18 b.
JWST
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release
JWST Captures The End Of Planet Formation
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is helping scientists uncover how planets form by advancing understanding of their birthplaces and the circumstellar disks surrounding young stars, in a paper published […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report
Transiting Exoplanets With The Mid-InfraRed JWST Instrument: From Simulations To Observations
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has now started its exploration of exoplanetary worlds. In particular, the Mid-InfraRed Instrument (MIRI) with its Low-Resolution Spectrometer (LRS) carries out transit, eclipse, and […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astrogeology, Astronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Press Release
Radiation From Massive Stars Shapes Planetary Systems
How do planetary systems such as the Solar System form? To find out, CNRS scientists taking part in an international research team studied a stellar nursery, the Orion Nebula, using […]
![Best-fit free retrieval of the JWST NIRSpec and HST WFC3 data for WASP-77A b. The coloured regions show the individual contribution of three species (H2O, CO, and TiO) and Collision Induced Absorption (CIA), while the inset shows the 1, 2, and 3σ confidence intervals for the retrieved temperature-pressure (T − p) profile. These three species are detected in the HST and JWST data, allowing us to place constraints on elemental ratios for this atmosphere. The best-fit T − p profile has a positive lapse rate (i.e, no evidence for a thermal inversion) in the pressure region probed by our observations (p ∈ [105 , 100] Pa). -- astro-ph.EP](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/MeasuringTracers.png?resize=1200%2C719&ssl=1)
Posted inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Status Report, Stellar Cartography
Measuring Tracers of Planet Formation in the Atmosphere of WASP-77A b: Sub-stellar O/H and C/H ratios, with a stellar C/O ratio and a potentially Super-stellar Ti/H ratio
We present a comprehensive atmospheric retrieval study of the hot Jupiter WASP-77A b using eclipse observations from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and JWST.
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Destruction Of An Oceans’ Worth Of Water Per Month In The Orion Nebula
An international team, including Western astrophysicists Els Peeters and Jan Cami, has found the destruction and re-formation of a large quantity of water in a planet-forming disk located at the […]
Posted inGas Giants, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release, Saturn
Water-Ice Dominated Spectra of Saturn’s Rings and Small Moons from JWST
JWST measured the infrared spectra of Saturn’s rings and several of its small moons (Epimetheus, Pandora, Telesto and Pallene) as part of Guaranteed Time Observation program 1247.
Posted inAstrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report
Automated Chemical Reaction Network Generation And Its Application To Exoplanet Atmospheres
With the advent of JWST and spectroscopic characterization of exoplanet atmospheres with unprecedented detail, there is a demand for a more complete picture of chemical and photochemical reactions and their […]
Posted inAstrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Status Report
The Imprint of Escaping Hydrogen Atmospheres on Super-Earth Interiors
Small, close-in exoplanets are divided into two sub-populations: super-Earths and sub-Neptunes. Most super-Earths are thought to have lost their primordially accreted hydrogen-dominated atmospheres via thermally driven winds.
Posted inAstrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
On The Ocean Conditions Of Hycean Worlds
Recent studies have suggested the possibility of Hycean worlds, characterised by deep liquid water oceans beneath H2-rich atmospheres.