Clouds in the atmosphere of the super-Earth exoplanet GJ 1214b
Recent surveys have revealed that planets intermediate in size between Earth and Neptune ('super-Earths') are among the most common planets in the Galaxy. Atmospheric studies are the next step towards developing a comprehensive understanding of this new class of object. Much effort has bee...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
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Springer Nature
2018
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/118780 |
| _version_ | 1826188947761397760 |
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| author | Kreidberg, Laura Bean, Jacob L. Désert, Jean-Michel Deming, Drake Stevenson, Kevin B. Seager, Sara Berta-Thompson, Zachory Seifahrt, Andreas Homeier, Derek Benneke, Bjoern |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics Kreidberg, Laura Bean, Jacob L. Désert, Jean-Michel Deming, Drake Stevenson, Kevin B. Seager, Sara Berta-Thompson, Zachory Seifahrt, Andreas Homeier, Derek Benneke, Bjoern |
| author_sort | Kreidberg, Laura |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Recent surveys have revealed that planets intermediate in size between Earth and Neptune ('super-Earths') are among the most common planets in the Galaxy. Atmospheric studies are the next step towards developing a comprehensive understanding of this new class of object. Much effort has been focused on using transmission spectroscopy to characterize the atmosphere of the super-Earth archetype GJ 1214b (refs 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17), but previous observations did not have sufficient precision to distinguish between two interpretations for the atmosphere. The planet's atmosphere could be dominated by relatively heavy molecules, such as water (for example, a 100 per cent water vapour composition), or it could contain high-altitude clouds that obscure its lower layers. Here we report a measurement of the transmission spectrum of GJ 1214b at near-infrared wavelengths that definitively resolves this ambiguity. The data, obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope, are sufficiently precise to detect absorption features from a high mean-molecular-mass atmosphere. The observed spectrum, however, is featureless. We rule out cloud-free atmospheric models with compositions dominated by water, methane, carbon monoxide, nitrogen or carbon dioxide at greater than 5σ confidence. The planet's atmosphere must contain clouds to be consistent with the data. © 2014 Macmillan Publishers Limited. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T08:07:29Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/118780 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T08:07:29Z |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| publisher | Springer Nature |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1187802024-07-19T19:43:06Z Clouds in the atmosphere of the super-Earth exoplanet GJ 1214b Kreidberg, Laura Bean, Jacob L. Désert, Jean-Michel Deming, Drake Stevenson, Kevin B. Seager, Sara Berta-Thompson, Zachory Seifahrt, Andreas Homeier, Derek Benneke, Bjoern Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research Benneke, Bjoern Recent surveys have revealed that planets intermediate in size between Earth and Neptune ('super-Earths') are among the most common planets in the Galaxy. Atmospheric studies are the next step towards developing a comprehensive understanding of this new class of object. Much effort has been focused on using transmission spectroscopy to characterize the atmosphere of the super-Earth archetype GJ 1214b (refs 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17), but previous observations did not have sufficient precision to distinguish between two interpretations for the atmosphere. The planet's atmosphere could be dominated by relatively heavy molecules, such as water (for example, a 100 per cent water vapour composition), or it could contain high-altitude clouds that obscure its lower layers. Here we report a measurement of the transmission spectrum of GJ 1214b at near-infrared wavelengths that definitively resolves this ambiguity. The data, obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope, are sufficiently precise to detect absorption features from a high mean-molecular-mass atmosphere. The observed spectrum, however, is featureless. We rule out cloud-free atmospheric models with compositions dominated by water, methane, carbon monoxide, nitrogen or carbon dioxide at greater than 5σ confidence. The planet's atmosphere must contain clouds to be consistent with the data. © 2014 Macmillan Publishers Limited. 2018-10-25T17:53:06Z 2018-10-25T17:53:06Z 2014-01 2018-10-02T14:48:51Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 0028-0836 1476-4687 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/118780 Kreidberg, Laura, et al. “Clouds in the Atmosphere of the Super-Earth Exoplanet GJ 1214b.” Nature, vol. 505, no. 7481, Jan. 2014, pp. 69–72. © 2018 Springer Nature Limited http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/NATURE12888 Nature Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. application/pdf Springer Nature arXiv |
| spellingShingle | Kreidberg, Laura Bean, Jacob L. Désert, Jean-Michel Deming, Drake Stevenson, Kevin B. Seager, Sara Berta-Thompson, Zachory Seifahrt, Andreas Homeier, Derek Benneke, Bjoern Clouds in the atmosphere of the super-Earth exoplanet GJ 1214b |
| title | Clouds in the atmosphere of the super-Earth exoplanet GJ 1214b |
| title_full | Clouds in the atmosphere of the super-Earth exoplanet GJ 1214b |
| title_fullStr | Clouds in the atmosphere of the super-Earth exoplanet GJ 1214b |
| title_full_unstemmed | Clouds in the atmosphere of the super-Earth exoplanet GJ 1214b |
| title_short | Clouds in the atmosphere of the super-Earth exoplanet GJ 1214b |
| title_sort | clouds in the atmosphere of the super earth exoplanet gj 1214b |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/118780 |
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