JWST-TST DREAMS: quartz clouds in the atmosphere of WASP-17b

David Grant; Nikole K. Lewis; Hannah R. Wakeford; Natasha E. Batalha; Ana Glidden; Jayesh Goyal; Elijah Mullens; Ryan J. MacDonald; Erin M. May; Sara Seager; Kevin B. Stevenson; Jeff A. Valenti; Channon Visscher; Lili Alderson; Natalie H. Allen; Caleb I. Cañas; Knicole Colón; Mark Clampin; Néstor Espinoza; Amélie Gressier; Jingcheng Huang; Zifan Lin; Douglas Long; Dana R. Louie; Maria Peña-Guerrero; Sukrit Ranjan; Kristin S. Sotzen; Daniel Valentine; Jay Anderson; William O. Balmer; Andrea Bellini; Kielan K. W. Hoch; Jens Kammerer; Mattia Libralato; C. Matt Mountain; Marshall D. Perrin; Laurent Pueyo; Emily Rickman; Isabel Rebollido; Sangmo Tony Sohn; Roeland P. van der Marel; Laura L. Watkins

doi:10.3847/2041-8213/acfc3b

JWST-TST DREAMS: quartz clouds in the atmosphere of WASP-17b

David Grant^*, Nikole K. Lewis, Hannah R. Wakeford, Natasha E. Batalha, Ana Glidden, Jayesh Goyal, Elijah Mullens, Ryan J. MacDonald, Erin M. May, Sara Seager, Kevin B. Stevenson, Jeff A. Valenti, Channon Visscher, Lili Alderson, Natalie H. Allen, Caleb I. Cañas, Knicole Colón, Mark Clampin, Néstor Espinoza, Amélie GressierJingcheng Huang, Zifan Lin, Douglas Long, Dana R. Louie, Maria Peña-Guerrero, Sukrit Ranjan, Kristin S. Sotzen, Daniel Valentine, Jay Anderson, William O. Balmer, Andrea Bellini, Kielan K. W. Hoch, Jens Kammerer, Mattia Libralato, C. Matt Mountain, Marshall D. Perrin, Laurent Pueyo, Emily Rickman, Isabel Rebollido, Sangmo Tony Sohn, Roeland P. van der Marel, Laura L. Watkins

^*Corresponding author for this work

School of Physics and Astronomy

Research output: Contribution to journal › Letter › peer-review

Abstract

Clouds are prevalent in many of the exoplanet atmospheres that have been observed to date. For transiting exoplanets, we know if clouds are present because they mute spectral features and cause wavelength-dependent scattering. While the exact composition of these clouds is largely unknown, this information is vital to understanding the chemistry and energy budget of planetary atmospheres. In this work, we observe one transit of the hot Jupiter WASP-17b with JWST's MIRI LRS and generate a transmission spectrum from 5-12 μm. These wavelengths allow us to probe absorption due to the vibrational modes of various predicted cloud species. Our transmission spectrum shows additional opacity centered at 8.6 μm, and detailed atmospheric modeling and retrievals identify this feature as SiO₂(s) (quartz) clouds. The SiO₂(s) clouds model is preferred at 3.5-4.2σ versus a cloud-free model and at 2.6σ versus a generic aerosol prescription. We find the SiO₂₍s) clouds are comprised of small ~0.01 μm particles, which extend to high altitudes in the atmosphere. The atmosphere also shows a depletion of H₂O, a finding consistent with the formation of high-temperature aerosols from oxygen-rich species. This work is part of a series of studies by our JWST Telescope Scientist Team (JWST-TST), in which we will use Guaranteed Time Observations to perform Deep Reconnaissance of Exoplanet Atmospheres through Multi-instrument Spectroscopy (DREAMS).

Original language	English
Article number	L32
Number of pages	15
Journal	Astrophysical Journal Letters
Volume	956
Issue number	2
Early online date	16 Oct 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/acfc3b
Publication status	Published - 20 Oct 2023

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© 2023. The Author(s). Original content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.
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Grant, D., Lewis, N. K., Wakeford, H. R., Batalha, N. E., Glidden, A., Goyal, J., Mullens, E., MacDonald, R. J., May, E. M., Seager, S., Stevenson, K. B., Valenti, J. A., Visscher, C., Alderson, L., Allen, N. H., Cañas, C. I., Colón, K., Clampin, M., Espinoza, N., ... Watkins, L. L. (2023). JWST-TST DREAMS: quartz clouds in the atmosphere of WASP-17b. Astrophysical Journal Letters, 956(2), Article L32. https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/acfc3b

@article{aa44ad1620d34dbf85c0e4ff00a0058c,

title = "JWST-TST DREAMS: quartz clouds in the atmosphere of WASP-17b",

abstract = "Clouds are prevalent in many of the exoplanet atmospheres that have been observed to date. For transiting exoplanets, we know if clouds are present because they mute spectral features and cause wavelength-dependent scattering. While the exact composition of these clouds is largely unknown, this information is vital to understanding the chemistry and energy budget of planetary atmospheres. In this work, we observe one transit of the hot Jupiter WASP-17b with JWST's MIRI LRS and generate a transmission spectrum from 5-12 μm. These wavelengths allow us to probe absorption due to the vibrational modes of various predicted cloud species. Our transmission spectrum shows additional opacity centered at 8.6 μm, and detailed atmospheric modeling and retrievals identify this feature as SiO2(s) (quartz) clouds. The SiO2(s) clouds model is preferred at 3.5-4.2σ versus a cloud-free model and at 2.6σ versus a generic aerosol prescription. We find the SiO2(s) clouds are comprised of small ~0.01 μm particles, which extend to high altitudes in the atmosphere. The atmosphere also shows a depletion of H2O, a finding consistent with the formation of high-temperature aerosols from oxygen-rich species. This work is part of a series of studies by our JWST Telescope Scientist Team (JWST-TST), in which we will use Guaranteed Time Observations to perform Deep Reconnaissance of Exoplanet Atmospheres through Multi-instrument Spectroscopy (DREAMS).",

author = "David Grant and Lewis, {Nikole K.} and Wakeford, {Hannah R.} and Batalha, {Natasha E.} and Ana Glidden and Jayesh Goyal and Elijah Mullens and MacDonald, {Ryan J.} and May, {Erin M.} and Sara Seager and Stevenson, {Kevin B.} and Valenti, {Jeff A.} and Channon Visscher and Lili Alderson and Allen, {Natalie H.} and Ca{\~n}as, {Caleb I.} and Knicole Col{\'o}n and Mark Clampin and N{\'e}stor Espinoza and Am{\'e}lie Gressier and Jingcheng Huang and Zifan Lin and Douglas Long and Louie, {Dana R.} and Maria Pe{\~n}a-Guerrero and Sukrit Ranjan and Sotzen, {Kristin S.} and Daniel Valentine and Jay Anderson and Balmer, {William O.} and Andrea Bellini and Hoch, {Kielan K. W.} and Jens Kammerer and Mattia Libralato and Mountain, {C. Matt} and Perrin, {Marshall D.} and Laurent Pueyo and Emily Rickman and Isabel Rebollido and Sohn, {Sangmo Tony} and {van der Marel}, {Roeland P.} and Watkins, {Laura L.}",

note = "Funding: D.G. acknowledges funding from the UKRI STFC Consolidated grant No. ST/V000454/1. H.R.W. was funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) under the UK government's Horizon Europe funding guarantee (grant No. EP/Y006313/1). A.G. acknowledges support from the Robert R. Shrock Graduate Fellowship. J.G. acknowledges funding from SERB research grant No. SRG/2022/000727. R.J.M. is supported by NASA through the NASA Hubble Fellowship grant No. HST-HF2-51513.001, awarded by the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., for NASA, under contract NAS 5-26555. We acknowledge the MIT SuperCloud and Lincoln Laboratory Supercomputing Center for providing high performance computing resources that have contributed to the research results reported within this paper. Resources supporting this work were provided by the NASA High-End Computing (HEC) Program through the NASA Advanced Supercomputing (NAS) Division at Ames Research Center. N.E.B. acknowledges support from NASA's Interdisciplinary Consortia for Astrobiology Research (grant No. NNH19ZDA001N-ICAR) under award number 19-ICAR19_2-0041.",

year = "2023",

month = oct,

day = "20",

doi = "10.3847/2041-8213/acfc3b",

language = "English",

volume = "956",

journal = "Astrophysical Journal Letters",

issn = "2041-8213",

publisher = "American Astronomical Society",

number = "2",

}

Grant, D, Lewis, NK, Wakeford, HR, Batalha, NE, Glidden, A, Goyal, J, Mullens, E, MacDonald, RJ, May, EM, Seager, S, Stevenson, KB, Valenti, JA, Visscher, C, Alderson, L, Allen, NH, Cañas, CI, Colón, K, Clampin, M, Espinoza, N, Gressier, A, Huang, J, Lin, Z, Long, D, Louie, DR, Peña-Guerrero, M, Ranjan, S, Sotzen, KS, Valentine, D, Anderson, J, Balmer, WO, Bellini, A, Hoch, KKW, Kammerer, J, Libralato, M, Mountain, CM, Perrin, MD, Pueyo, L, Rickman, E, Rebollido, I, Sohn, ST, van der Marel, RP & Watkins, LL 2023, 'JWST-TST DREAMS: quartz clouds in the atmosphere of WASP-17b', Astrophysical Journal Letters, vol. 956, no. 2, L32. https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/acfc3b

TY - JOUR

T1 - JWST-TST DREAMS

T2 - quartz clouds in the atmosphere of WASP-17b

AU - Grant, David

AU - Lewis, Nikole K.

AU - Wakeford, Hannah R.

AU - Batalha, Natasha E.

AU - Glidden, Ana

AU - Goyal, Jayesh

AU - Mullens, Elijah

AU - MacDonald, Ryan J.

AU - May, Erin M.

AU - Seager, Sara

AU - Stevenson, Kevin B.

AU - Valenti, Jeff A.

AU - Visscher, Channon

AU - Alderson, Lili

AU - Allen, Natalie H.

AU - Cañas, Caleb I.

AU - Colón, Knicole

AU - Clampin, Mark

AU - Espinoza, Néstor

AU - Gressier, Amélie

AU - Huang, Jingcheng

AU - Lin, Zifan

AU - Long, Douglas

AU - Louie, Dana R.

AU - Peña-Guerrero, Maria

AU - Ranjan, Sukrit

AU - Sotzen, Kristin S.

AU - Valentine, Daniel

AU - Anderson, Jay

AU - Balmer, William O.

AU - Bellini, Andrea

AU - Hoch, Kielan K. W.

AU - Kammerer, Jens

AU - Libralato, Mattia

AU - Mountain, C. Matt

AU - Perrin, Marshall D.

AU - Pueyo, Laurent

AU - Rickman, Emily

AU - Rebollido, Isabel

AU - Sohn, Sangmo Tony

AU - van der Marel, Roeland P.

AU - Watkins, Laura L.

N1 - Funding: D.G. acknowledges funding from the UKRI STFC Consolidated grant No. ST/V000454/1. H.R.W. was funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) under the UK government's Horizon Europe funding guarantee (grant No. EP/Y006313/1). A.G. acknowledges support from the Robert R. Shrock Graduate Fellowship. J.G. acknowledges funding from SERB research grant No. SRG/2022/000727. R.J.M. is supported by NASA through the NASA Hubble Fellowship grant No. HST-HF2-51513.001, awarded by the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., for NASA, under contract NAS 5-26555. We acknowledge the MIT SuperCloud and Lincoln Laboratory Supercomputing Center for providing high performance computing resources that have contributed to the research results reported within this paper. Resources supporting this work were provided by the NASA High-End Computing (HEC) Program through the NASA Advanced Supercomputing (NAS) Division at Ames Research Center. N.E.B. acknowledges support from NASA's Interdisciplinary Consortia for Astrobiology Research (grant No. NNH19ZDA001N-ICAR) under award number 19-ICAR19_2-0041.

PY - 2023/10/20

Y1 - 2023/10/20

N2 - Clouds are prevalent in many of the exoplanet atmospheres that have been observed to date. For transiting exoplanets, we know if clouds are present because they mute spectral features and cause wavelength-dependent scattering. While the exact composition of these clouds is largely unknown, this information is vital to understanding the chemistry and energy budget of planetary atmospheres. In this work, we observe one transit of the hot Jupiter WASP-17b with JWST's MIRI LRS and generate a transmission spectrum from 5-12 μm. These wavelengths allow us to probe absorption due to the vibrational modes of various predicted cloud species. Our transmission spectrum shows additional opacity centered at 8.6 μm, and detailed atmospheric modeling and retrievals identify this feature as SiO2(s) (quartz) clouds. The SiO2(s) clouds model is preferred at 3.5-4.2σ versus a cloud-free model and at 2.6σ versus a generic aerosol prescription. We find the SiO2(s) clouds are comprised of small ~0.01 μm particles, which extend to high altitudes in the atmosphere. The atmosphere also shows a depletion of H2O, a finding consistent with the formation of high-temperature aerosols from oxygen-rich species. This work is part of a series of studies by our JWST Telescope Scientist Team (JWST-TST), in which we will use Guaranteed Time Observations to perform Deep Reconnaissance of Exoplanet Atmospheres through Multi-instrument Spectroscopy (DREAMS).

AB - Clouds are prevalent in many of the exoplanet atmospheres that have been observed to date. For transiting exoplanets, we know if clouds are present because they mute spectral features and cause wavelength-dependent scattering. While the exact composition of these clouds is largely unknown, this information is vital to understanding the chemistry and energy budget of planetary atmospheres. In this work, we observe one transit of the hot Jupiter WASP-17b with JWST's MIRI LRS and generate a transmission spectrum from 5-12 μm. These wavelengths allow us to probe absorption due to the vibrational modes of various predicted cloud species. Our transmission spectrum shows additional opacity centered at 8.6 μm, and detailed atmospheric modeling and retrievals identify this feature as SiO2(s) (quartz) clouds. The SiO2(s) clouds model is preferred at 3.5-4.2σ versus a cloud-free model and at 2.6σ versus a generic aerosol prescription. We find the SiO2(s) clouds are comprised of small ~0.01 μm particles, which extend to high altitudes in the atmosphere. The atmosphere also shows a depletion of H2O, a finding consistent with the formation of high-temperature aerosols from oxygen-rich species. This work is part of a series of studies by our JWST Telescope Scientist Team (JWST-TST), in which we will use Guaranteed Time Observations to perform Deep Reconnaissance of Exoplanet Atmospheres through Multi-instrument Spectroscopy (DREAMS).

U2 - 10.3847/2041-8213/acfc3b

DO - 10.3847/2041-8213/acfc3b

M3 - Letter

SN - 2041-8213

VL - 956

JO - Astrophysical Journal Letters

JF - Astrophysical Journal Letters

IS - 2

M1 - L32

ER -

JWST-TST DREAMS: quartz clouds in the atmosphere of WASP-17b

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