JWST reveals the rapid and strong day-side variability of 55 Cancri e
Artikel i vetenskaplig tidskrift, 2024
Context. The nature of the close-in rocky planet 55 Cnce is puzzling, despite it having been observed extensively. Its optical and infrared occultation depths show temporal variability, in addition to a phase curve variability observed in the optical. Aims. We wish to explore the possibility that the variability originates from the planet being in a 3:2 spin- orbit resonance, and thus showing different sides during occultations. We proposed and were awarded Cycle 1 time at the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to test this hypothesis. Methods. JWST/NIRCam (Near Infrared Camera) observed five occultations (secondary eclipses) of the planet - of which four were observed within a week - simultaneously at 2.1 and 4.5 μm. While the former gives band-integrated photometry, the latter provides a spectrum between 3.9- 5.0 μm. Results. We find that the occultation depths in both bandpasses are highly variable and change between a non-detection (-5 ± 6 ppm and 7 ± 9 ppm) to 96 ± 8 ppm and 119-19+34 ppm at 2.1 μm and 4.5 μm, respectively. Interestingly, the variations in both bandpasses are not correlated and do not support the 3:2 spin-orbit resonance explanation. The measured brightness temperature at 4.5 μm varies between 873- 2256 K and is lower than the expected day-side temperature of bare rock with no heat redistribution (2500 K), which is indicative of an atmosphere. Our atmospheric retrieval analysis of occultation depth spectra at 4.5 μm finds that different visits statistically favour various atmospheric scenarios including a thin outgassed CO/CO2 atmosphere and a silicate rock vapour atmosphere. Some visits even support a flat line model. Conclusions. The observed variability could be explained by stochastic outgassing of CO/CO2, which is also hinted at by retrievals. Alternatively, the variability observed at both 2.1 and 4.5 μm could be the result of a circumstellar patchy dust torus generated by volcanism on the planet.
Planets and satellites: atmospheres
Planets and satellites: individual: 55 Cnc e
Planets and satellites: terrestrial planets
Techniques: spectroscopic
Techniques: photometric
Författare
J. A. Patel
Stockholms universitet
A. Brandeker
Stockholms universitet
D. Kitzmann
Universität Bern
Dominique J.M. Petit dit de la Roche
Université de Genève
Aaron Bello-Arufe
California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
Kevin Heng
University College London (UCL)
The University of Warwick
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU)
Universität Bern
E. Meier Valdes
Universität Bern
Carina Persson
Chalmers, Rymd-, geo- och miljövetenskap, Astronomi och plasmafysik
Michael Zhang
University of Chicago
B.O. Demory
Universität Bern
V. Bourrier
Université de Genève
A. Deline
Université de Genève
D. Ehrenreich
Université de Genève
Malcolm Fridlund
Universiteit Leiden
Chalmers, Rymd-, geo- och miljövetenskap, Astronomi och plasmafysik
Renyu Hu
California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
M. Lendl
Université de Genève
A. V. Oza
California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
Y. Alibert
Universität Bern
M.J. Hooton
University of Cambridge
Astronomy and Astrophysics
0004-6361 (ISSN) 1432-0746 (eISSN)
Vol. 690 A159Jämställdhet för excellens (Genie)
Stiftelsen Chalmers tekniska högskola, 2019-01-01 -- 2028-12-31.
Exoplaneter från rymden - CHEOPS och PLATO, ESA's nästa två rymdteleskop (fas 2)
Rymdstyrelsen (65/19), 2020-01-01 -- 2022-12-31.
Rymdstyrelsen (177/19), 2020-01-01 -- 2022-12-31.
Ämneskategorier (SSIF 2011)
Rymd- och flygteknik
Astronomi, astrofysik och kosmologi
Sannolikhetsteori och statistik
DOI
10.1051/0004-6361/202450748
Relaterade dataset
URI: https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/ A+A/690/A159