Measuring the metallicity and carbon-to-oxygen (C/O) ratio in exoplanet atmospheres is a fundamental step towards constraining the dominant chemical processes at work and, if in equilibrium, revealing planet formation histories.
JWST
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release
Early Release Science Of The Exoplanet WASP-39b With JWST NIRISS
Transmission spectroscopy provides insight into the atmospheric properties and consequently the formation history, physics, and chemistry of transiting exoplanets. However, obtaining precise inferences of atmospheric properties from transmission spectra requires […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release
Direct Evidence of Photochemistry In An Exoplanet Atmosphere
Photochemistry is a fundamental process of planetary atmospheres that is integral to habitability, atmospheric composition and stability, and aerosol formation. However, no unambiguous photochemical products have been detected in exoplanet […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Beta Pictoris, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release
Detecting Planetary Mass Companions Near The Water Frost-line Using JWST Interferometry
JWST promises to be the most versatile infrared observatory for the next two decades. The Near Infrared and Slitless Spectrograph (NIRISS) instrument, when used in the Aperture Masking Interferometry (AMI) […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release, Venus
Large Interferometer For Exoplanets (LIFE): VIII. Where is the phosphine? Observing exoplanetary PH3 with a space based MIR nulling interferometer
Phosphine could be a key molecule in the understanding of exotic chemistry happening in (exo)planetary atmospheres. While it has been detected in the Solar System’s giant planets, it has not […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release
PAH Emission From Star-forming Galaxies In JWST Mid-infrared Imaging Of The Lensing Cluster SMACS J0723.3−7327
The mid-infrared spectra of star-forming galaxies (SFGs) are characterized by characteristic broad PAH emission features at 3−20 μm.
Posted inBiosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Press Release
A New Method for Finding Nearby White Dwarf Exoplanets and Detecting Biosignatures
We demonstrate that the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) can detect infrared (IR) excess from the blended light spectral energy distribution of spatially unresolved terrestrial exoplanets orbiting nearby white dwarfs.
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Press Release
The Kinematics And Excitation Of Infrared Wwater Vapor Emission From Planet-forming Disks: Results From Spectrally-resolved Surveys And Guidelines For JWST Spectra
This work presents water emission spectra at wavelengths covered by JWST (2.9-12.8 μm) as spectrally-resolved with high resolving powers (R = 30,000-100,000) using ground-based spectrographs.
Posted inBiosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release
The Impending Opacity Challenge in Exoplanet Atmospheric Characterization
With a new generation of observatories coming online this decade, the process of characterizing exoplanet atmospheres will need to be reinvented.
Posted inAstrochemistry, Press Release
A High Angular Resolution View Of The PAH Emission In Seyfert Galaxies Using JWST/MRS Data
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) are carbon-based molecules, which are ubiquitous in a variety of astrophysical objects and environments. In this work, we use JWST/MIRI MRS spectroscopy of 3 Seyferts to […]