Espinoza, Nestor, Bello-Arufe, Aaron, Buchhave, Lars A., Burgasser, Adam J., Demory, Brice-Olivier, Diamond-Lowe, Hannah, Fisher, Chloe, Gibson, Neale, Guzman Mesa, Andrea, Heng, Kevin, Hoeijmakers, Jens, Hooton, Matthew, Hu, Renyu, Kitzmann, Daniel, Kozakis, Thea, Lopez-Morales, Mercedes, Malik, Matej, Mendonca, Joao Manuel, Miguel, Yamila, Morris, Brett M. and Rathcke, Alexander (2021) The first near-infrared spectroscopic phase-curve of a super-Earth.
Abstract
The relatively rare sub-population of the so-called ultra-short period (P < 1 day) rocky planets offers a unique opportunity for atmospheric characterization studies. Given the large amount of stellar irradiation these planets are bombarded with, they are expected to have lost their primordial atmospheres giving rise to thin or thick (i.e., low or high pressure) outgassed, exotic Na, O or SiO-rich atmospheres. Characterizing the surfaces and/or atmospheres of these highly irradiated rocky worlds, thus, provides a window to explore exciting atmospheric and/or surface compositions which might be completely different to the ones observed in our Solar System. Motivated by these fascinating prospects, here we propose to constrain the atmosphere of the ultra-short period (6.9-hour; Teq = 2150 K) transiting super-Earth K2-141b (Rp=1.51REarth; Mp=5.08MEarth) through a spectroscopic phase-curve observation with the James Webb Space Telescope. Our program, which will allow us to directly detect the thermal emission of this exoplanet as a function of both orbital phase and wavelength, will provide precious insights into its atmospheric and/or geological properties, which will serve as a strong leverage for future studies and characterization efforts of highly-irradiated super-Earths....
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