DOCSLIB.ORG

Millimeter and Near-Infrared Observations of Neptune's

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Millimeter and Near-Infrared Observations of Neptune's Millimeter and Near-Infrared Observations of Neptune’s Atmospheric Dynamics By Statia Honora Luszcz Cook A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Astrophysics in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor Imke de Pater, Chair Professor Eugene Chiang Professor Carl Heiles Professor Kristie Boering Fall 2012 Millimeter and Near-Infrared Observations of Neptune’s Atmospheric Dynamics Copyright 2012 by Statia Honora Luszcz Cook 1 Abstract Millimeter and Near-Infrared Observations of Neptune’s Atmospheric Dynamics by Statia Honora Luszcz Cook Doctor of Philosophy in Astrophysics University of California, Berkeley Professor Imke de Pater, Chair The atmospheric chemistry and dynamics of the ice giants are critical to comprehending planetary diversity within our Solar System and beyond. The bulk composition of these planets, which can be investigated through the composition of their atmospheres, is intimately tied to their formation in the circumstellar disk. In this dissertation, I take a multi-wavelength approach to studying chemistry and large-scale circulation in the atmosphere of Neptune, one of the two local examples of ice giant planets. In equilibrium, the molecule carbon monoxide (CO) should be confined to the warm interiors of the giant planets. Its presence in the upper atmosphere, therefore, indicates disequilibrium processes at work: either rapid transport from deeper levels where the molecules are thermodynamically stable, or production high in the atmosphere as a result of infall of material from the planet’s environment. Using millimeter-wave interferometry with the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy (CARMA), I observe Neptune in two rotational transitions of CO. Radiative transfer modeling yields a CO +0:2 +0:2 profile with 0:1−0:1 parts per million (ppm) of CO in the troposphere, and 1:1−0:3 ppm in the stratosphere. The stratospheric abundance implies an infall rate of oxygen-bearing material of 0:5–20 × 108 cm−2 s−1 to Neptune’s upper atmosphere, which is consistent with supply by (sub)kilometer-sized comets. I also revisit the calculation of Neptune’s internal oxygen abundance using revised calculations for the CO!CH4 conversion timescale in the deep atmosphere (Visscher & Moses 2011), in the context of my derived CO profile. The best-fit solution of 0.1 ppm of CO in the troposphere implies a global O/H enrichment of at least 400, and likely more than 650 times the protosolar value. This is one order of magnitude greater than Neptune’s observed carbon enrichment relative to solar. However, the CO profile is also consistent with 0.0 ppm of CO in the troposphere, in which case no over-enrichment of oxygen in the interior is required. Maps of Neptune in and near the CO (2–1) line from CARMA show spatial variations in the intensity at the 2–3% level. Variations at frequencies in the CO line are consistent 2 with variations in zonal-mean temperature near the tropopause. At continuum wavelengths, I observe a gradient in the brightness temperature, increasing by 2–3 K from 40◦N to the south pole. This corresponds to an opacity decrease of about 0.3 (30%) near the south pole at altitudes below 1 bar, or a factor of 100 decrease in the opacity at altitudes below 4 bar. A global circulation pattern in which moist air rises at mid- southern and northern latitudes and dry air subsides near the equator and south pole is consistent with the south polar brightening observed in the millimeter. At near-infrared wavelengths, observations are sensitive to sunlight reflected from clouds and hazes in the upper atmosphere. These clouds act as tracers of atmospheric dynamics, which aid in the determination of Neptune’s large-scale circulation. Near-infrared images of Neptune from the W.M. Keck II telescope from July 2007 show that the unresolved cloud feature typically observed within a few degrees of Neptune’s south pole had split into a pair of bright spots. A careful determination of disk center places the cloud centers within 2 degrees of, but not directly at, Neptune’s south pole. When modeled as optically thick, perfectly reflecting layers, the two features are found to be in the troposphere, at pressures greater than 0.4 bar. Images with comparable resolution taken two days later reveal only a single feature near the south pole. The changing morphology of these circumpolar clouds suggests they may form in a region of strong convection surrounding a Neptunian south polar vortex. Additional near-infrared observations were performed with the OSIRIS integral-field spectrograph on the Keck telescope. I present three-dimensional data cubes covering more than 90% of the visible hemisphere of Neptune, with a spatial resolution of 0.035” per pixel and spectral resolution of R ∼ 3800, in the H (1.47–1.80 µm) and K (1.97–2.38 µm) broad bands. In my preliminary radiative transfer analysis of these data, I find that the observed spectra are generally well fit by models with three cloud layers: a stratospheric haze layer, a tropospheric haze layer and a low albedo, optically thick bottom cloud at 2 bar. Models are consistent with a north-south hemispheric asymmetry in the properties of the clouds, with both bright and dark features in the north at higher altitudes than equivalent regions in the south. The range of derived altitudes between the highest and deepest features is nearly 5 atmospheric scale heights. The highest concentration of features can be found within a bright band extending from 30 to 45◦S. I find that these features can all be fit by hazes at the same altitude, by varying only the haze particle densities. In contrast, I find that two features near 60◦S appear to be at very different altitudes, even though they are at the same latitude. i To my family. I love you. ii Contents List of Figuresv List of Tables viii Acknowledgments ix 1 Introduction1 1.1 Neptune and its atmosphere: a historical perspective.............1 1.1.1 Three types of planets.........................2 1.1.2 Spectroscopy...............................4 1.1.3 The Voyager era............................5 1.1.4 Vertical structure............................8 1.1.5 Post-Voyager .............................. 10 1.2 Outline of this dissertation........................... 13 2 Constraining the Origins of Neptune’s Carbon Monoxide Abundance with CARMA Millimeter-wave Observations 15 2.1 Introduction................................... 16 2.2 Data....................................... 19 2.2.1 Observations.............................. 19 2.2.2 Calibration............................... 20 2.2.3 Imaging................................. 22 2.2.4 Flux determination and error estimate................ 22 2.3 Model....................................... 24 2.3.1 Composition................................ 24 2.3.2 Opacity................................. 26 2.3.3 Thermal profile.............................. 27 2.3.4 Disk averaging.............................. 31 2.4 Analysis..................................... 32 2.5 Errors and uncertainty............................. 39 2.6 Results...................................... 40 2.6.1 Constant CO models.......................... 40 Contents iii 2.6.2 Two-level CO models, no H2S..................... 40 2.6.3 Two-level models, H2S included..................... 47 2.6.4 Physical models............................. 50 2.7 Discussion.................................... 53 2.7.1 Comparison with previous results................... 53 2.7.2 Implications: internal CO....................... 59 2.7.3 Implications: external CO....................... 65 2.7.4 Summary/conclusions......................... 69 3 Spatially-Resolved Millimeter-Wavelength Maps of Neptune 70 3.1 Introduction................................... 70 3.2 Observations and data reduction........................ 72 3.3 Model....................................... 74 3.4 Imaging and deconvolution........................... 75 3.5 Results....................................... 81 3.5.1 Continuum variations........................... 81 3.5.2 Variations near the tropopause..................... 84 3.5.3 Line center............................... 88 3.6 Summary and conclusions........................... 88 3.7 Appendix: Comparison of deconvolution techniques.............. 91 4 Seeing Double at Neptune’s South Pole 97 4.1 Introduction.................................... 97 4.2 Observations and data processing....................... 98 4.3 Navigation and cloud locations........................ 99 4.4 Radiative transfer modeling of features.................... 103 4.5 Discussion..................................... 107 4.6 Summary.................................... 108 5 Near-Infrared Observations of Neptune’s Clouds with the OSIRIS Integral- Field Spectrograph 110 5.1 Introduction.................................... 111 5.2 Observations and data reduction........................ 113 5.3 Modeling..................................... 116 5.4 Disk-averaged spectrum............................ 118 5.5 Discrete features – 26 July 2009......................... 121 5.5.1 Dark regions............................... 122 5.5.2 Discrete features............................. 127 5.6 Summary and conclusions........................... 130 Contents iv 6 Conclusions and Future Directions 133 6.1 Millimeter observations of disequilibrium species............... 133 6.2 Near-infrared spectroscopy........................... 135 A Monitoring of Secondary Calibrator
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Astronomy 114 Problem Set # 2 Due: 16 Feb 2007 Name
    Astronomy 114 Problem Set # 2 Due: 16 Feb 2007 Name: SOLUTIONS As we discussed in class, most angles encountered in astronomy are quite small so degrees are often divded into 60 minutes and, if necessary, minutes in 60 seconds. Therefore to convert an angle measured in degrees to minutes, multiply by 60. To convert minutes to seconds, multiply by 60. To use trigonometric formulae, angles might have to be written in terms of radians. Recall that 2π radians = 360 degrees. Therefore, to convert degrees to radians, multiply by 2π/360. 1 The average angular diameter of the Moon is 0.52 degrees. What is the angular diameter of the moon in minutes? The goal here is to change units from degrees to minutes. 0.52 degrees 60 minutes = 31.2 minutes 1 degree 2 The mean angular diameter of the Sun is 32 minutes. What is the angular diameter of the Sun in degrees? 32 minutes 1 degrees =0.53 degrees 60 minutes 0.53 degrees 2π =0.0093 radians 360 degrees Note that the angular diameter of the Sun is nearly the same as the angular diameter of the Moon. This similarity explains why sometimes an eclipse of the Sun by the Moon is total and sometimes is annular. See Chap. 3 for more details. 3 Early astronomers measured the Sun’s physical diameter to be roughly 109 Earth diameters (1 Earth diameter is 12,750 km). Calculate the average distance to the Sun using trigonometry. (Hint: because the angular size is small, you can make the approximation that sin α = α but don’t forget to express α in radians!).
    [Show full text]
  • Saturn — from the Outside In
    Saturn — From the Outside In Saturn — From the Outside In Questions, Answers, and Cool Things to Think About Discovering Saturn:The Real Lord of the Rings Saturn — From the Outside In Although no one has ever traveled ing from Saturn’s interior. As gases in from Saturn’s atmosphere to its core, Saturn’s interior warm up, they rise scientists do have an understanding until they reach a level where the tem- of what’s there, based on their knowl- perature is cold enough to freeze them edge of natural forces, chemistry, and into particles of solid ice. Icy ammonia mathematical models. If you were able forms the outermost layer of clouds, to go deep into Saturn, here’s what you which look yellow because ammonia re- trapped in the ammonia ice particles, First, you would enter Saturn’s up- add shades of brown and other col- per atmosphere, which has super-fast ors to the clouds. Methane and water winds. In fact, winds near Saturn’s freeze at higher temperatures, so they equator (the fat middle) can reach turn to ice farther down, below the am- speeds of 1,100 miles per hour. That is monia clouds. Hydrogen and helium rise almost four times as fast as the fast- even higher than the ammonia without est hurricane winds on Earth! These freezing at all. They remain gases above winds get their energy from heat ris- the cloud tops. Saturn — From the Outside In Warm gases are continually rising in Earth’s Layers Saturn’s atmosphere, while icy particles are continually falling back down to the lower depths, where they warm up, turn to gas and rise again.
    [Show full text]
  • The Sun's Dynamic Atmosphere
    Lecture 16 The Sun’s Dynamic Atmosphere Jiong Qiu, MSU Physics Department Guiding Questions 1. What is the temperature and density structure of the Sun’s atmosphere? Does the atmosphere cool off farther away from the Sun’s center? 2. What intrinsic properties of the Sun are reflected in the photospheric observations of limb darkening and granulation? 3. What are major observational signatures in the dynamic chromosphere? 4. What might cause the heating of the upper atmosphere? Can Sound waves heat the upper atmosphere of the Sun? 5. Where does the solar wind come from? 15.1 Introduction The Sun’s atmosphere is composed of three major layers, the photosphere, chromosphere, and corona. The different layers have different temperatures, densities, and distinctive features, and are observed at different wavelengths. Structure of the Sun 15.2 Photosphere The photosphere is the thin (~500 km) bottom layer in the Sun’s atmosphere, where the atmosphere is optically thin, so that photons make their way out and travel unimpeded. Ex.1: the mean free path of photons in the photosphere and the radiative zone. The photosphere is seen in visible light continuum (so- called white light). Observable features on the photosphere include: • Limb darkening: from the disk center to the limb, the brightness fades. • Sun spots: dark areas of magnetic field concentration in low-mid latitudes. • Granulation: convection cells appearing as light patches divided by dark boundaries. Q: does the full moon exhibit limb darkening? Limb Darkening: limb darkening phenomenon indicates that temperature decreases with altitude in the photosphere. Modeling the limb darkening profile tells us the structure of the stellar atmosphere.
    [Show full text]
  • Exoplanet Atmospheres and Interiors Types of Planets
    Exoplanet Atmospheres and Interiors Types of Planets • Hot Jupiters – Most common, because of observaonal biases – Temperatures ~ 1000K • Neptunes – May resemble the gas giants in our solar system • Super-earths – Rocky? – Water planets? • Terrestrial Atmosphere Basics • Ρ(h) = P(0) e-h/h0 • h0=kT/mg – k = Boltzmann constant – T=temperature – m=mass of par?cle – g=gravitaonal acceleraon • Density falls off exponen?ally with height Atmospheric Complicaons Stars have relavely simple atmospheres • A few diatomic molecules Brown Dwarfs and Planets are more complex • Temperature Inversions (external heang) • Clouds – Probably exist in T dwarfs – precipitaon • Molecules • Chemistry Generalized Thermal Atmosphere • Blue regions are convecve = lapse rate Marley, ARAA, fig 1 Atmospheric Chemistry • Ionizaon equilibrium • Chemical equilibrium High T Low T Low P High P Marley, ARAA, Fig 4 Marley, ARAA, Fig 3 • 2 MJ planet, T=600K, g=10 Marley, ARAA, Fig 5 Condensaon Sequence Transit Photometry Transit widths may reveal high al?tude haze 2 2 Excess eclipse depth δ ≃ ((Rp+ nH)/R∗) – (Rp/R∗) H = pressure scale height n = number of scale heights For typical hot Jupiters, δ ≅ 0.1% Observaons: Photometry • Precision photometry of transi?ng planet can give temperature – Comparison with Teq gives albedo (for Rp) • Inference of Na D1,D2 lines in HD 209458: – Eclipse 0.0002 deeper in lines – Charbonneau et al 2002, ApJ, 568, 377 Observaons: Photometry • Precision photometry of transi?ng planet can give temperature 2 2 – fin = (1-A) L* πRp / 4πd 2 4 – fout = 4πRp σTp – Comparison with Teq gives albedo (for Rp) For A=0: TP=T*√(R*/2d) Hot Jupiters • A is generally small: no clouds • Phase curve -> atmospheric dynamics • Flux variaons -> day to night temperature variaons • Hot Jupiters expected to have jet streams Basic Atmospheric Circulaon – no rotaon (Hadley cells) Jupiter HD 189733b • Temperature: 970-1200K • Peak 30o East • Winds up to 8700 km/h • H atm.
    [Show full text]
  • Planetary Diameters in the Sürya-Siddhänta DR
    Planetary Diameters in the Sürya-siddhänta DR. RICHARD THOMPSON Bhaktivedanta Institute, P.O. Box 52, Badger, CA 93603 Abstract. This paper discusses a rule given in the Indian astronomical text Sürya-siddhänta for comput- ing the angular diameters of the planets. I show that this text indicates a simple formula by which the true diameters of these planets can be computed from their stated angular diameters. When these computations are carried out, they give values for the planetary diameters that agree surprisingly well with modern astronomical data. I discuss several possible explanations for this, and I suggest that the angular diameter rule in the Sürya-siddhänta may be based on advanced astronomical knowledge that was developed in ancient times but has now been largely forgotten. In chapter 7 of the Sürya-siddhänta, the 13th çloka gives the following rule for calculating the apparent diameters of the planets Mars, Saturn, Mercury, Jupiter, and Venus: 7.13. The diameters upon the moon’s orbit of Mars, Saturn, Mercury, and Jupiter, are de- clared to be thirty, increased successively by half the half; that of Venus is sixty.1 The meaning is as follows: The diameters are measured in a unit of distance called the yojana, which in the Sürya-siddhänta is about five miles. The phrase “upon the moon’s orbit” means that the planets look from our vantage point as though they were globes of the indicated diameters situated at the distance of the moon. (Our vantage point is ideally the center of the earth.) Half the half of 30 is 7.5.
    [Show full text]
  • Our Atmosphere Greece Sicily Athens
    National Aeronautics and Space Administration Sardinia Italy Turkey Our Atmosphere Greece Sicily Athens he atmosphere is a life-giving blanket of air that surrounds our Crete T Tunisia Earth; it is composed of gases that protect us from the Sun’s intense ultraviolet Gulf of Gables radiation, allowing life to flourish. Greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, Mediterranean Sea ozone, and methane are steadily increasing from year to year. These gases trap infrared radiation (heat) emitted from Earth’s surface and atmosphere, Gulf of causing the atmosphere to warm. Conversely, clouds as well as many tiny Sidra suspended liquid or solid particles in the air such as dust, smoke, and Egypt Libya pollution—called aerosols—reflect the Sun’s radiative energy, which leads N to cooling. This delicate balance of incoming and reflected solar radiation 200 km and emitted infrared energy is critical in maintaining the Earth’s climate Turkey Greece and sustaining life. Research using computer models and satellite data from NASA’s Earth Sicily Observing System enhances our understanding of the physical processes Athens affecting trends in temperature, humidity, clouds, and aerosols and helps us assess the impact of a changing atmosphere on the global climate. Crete Tunisia Gulf of Gables Mediterranean Sea September 17, 1979 Gulf of Sidra October 6, 1986 September 20, 1993 Egypt Libya September 10, 2000 Aerosol Index low high September 24, 2006 On August 26, 2007, wildfires in southern Greece stretched along the southwest coast of the Peloponnese producing Total Ozone (Dobson Units) plumes of smoke that drifted across the Mediterranean Sea as far as Libya along Africa’s north coast.
    [Show full text]
  • Radio Astronomy
    Edition of 2013 HANDBOOK ON RADIO ASTRONOMY International Telecommunication Union Sales and Marketing Division Place des Nations *38650* CH-1211 Geneva 20 Switzerland Fax: +41 22 730 5194 Printed in Switzerland Tel.: +41 22 730 6141 Geneva, 2013 E-mail: [email protected] ISBN: 978-92-61-14481-4 Edition of 2013 Web: www.itu.int/publications Photo credit: ATCA David Smyth HANDBOOK ON RADIO ASTRONOMY Radiocommunication Bureau Handbook on Radio Astronomy Third Edition EDITION OF 2013 RADIOCOMMUNICATION BUREAU Cover photo: Six identical 22-m antennas make up CSIRO's Australia Telescope Compact Array, an earth-rotation synthesis telescope located at the Paul Wild Observatory. Credit: David Smyth. ITU 2013 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, by any means whatsoever, without the prior written permission of ITU. - iii - Introduction to the third edition by the Chairman of ITU-R Working Party 7D (Radio Astronomy) It is an honour and privilege to present the third edition of the Handbook – Radio Astronomy, and I do so with great pleasure. The Handbook is not intended as a source book on radio astronomy, but is concerned principally with those aspects of radio astronomy that are relevant to frequency coordination, that is, the management of radio spectrum usage in order to minimize interference between radiocommunication services. Radio astronomy does not involve the transmission of radiowaves in the frequency bands allocated for its operation, and cannot cause harmful interference to other services. On the other hand, the received cosmic signals are usually extremely weak, and transmissions of other services can interfere with such signals.
    [Show full text]
  • Transit of Venus M
    National Aeronautics and Space Administration The Transit of Venus June 5/6, 2012 HD209458b (HST) The Transit of Venus June 5/6, 2012 Transit of Venus Mathof Venus Transit Top Row – Left image - Photo taken at the US Naval Math Puzzler 3 - The duration of the transit depends Observatory of the 1882 transit of Venus. Middle on the relative speeds between the fast-moving image - The cover of Harpers Weekly for 1882 Venus in its orbit and the slower-moving Earth in its showing children watching the transit of Venus. orbit. This speed difference is known to be 5.24 km/sec. If the June 5, 2012, transit lasts 24,000 Right image – Image from NASA's TRACE satellite seconds, during which time the planet moves an of the transit of Venus, June 8, 2004. angular distance of 0.17 degrees across the sun as Middle - Geometric sketches of the transit of Venus viewed from Earth, what distance between Earth and by James Ferguson on June 6, 1761 showing the Venus allows the distance traveled by Venus along its shift in the transit chords depending on the orbit to subtend the observed angle? observer's location on Earth. The parallax angle is related to the distance between Earth and Venus. Determining the Astronomical Unit Bottom – Left image - NOAA GOES-12 satellite x-ray image showing the Transit of Venus 2004. Middle Based on the calculations of Nicolas Copernicus and image – An observer of the 2004 transit of Venus Johannes Kepler, the distances of the known planets wearing NASA’s Sun-Earth Day solar glasses for from the sun could be given rather precisely in terms safe viewing.
    [Show full text]
  • The Atmosphere!
    Activity 1 What’s Up? The Atmosphere! Atmosphere CHANGE IS IN THE AIR Forces of Change » Atmosphere » Activity 1 » Page 1 ACTIVITY 1 What’s Up? The Atmosphere! In one of 80 experiments performed on the space shuttle Columbia before its tragic loss during reentry in 2003, Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon tracked desert dust in the atmosphere as it moved around the earth Photo © Ernest Hilsenrath. Overview Students learn the distinctions of each layer of the atmosphere and sketch the layers. Suggested Grade Level 6–8 National Standards National Science Education Standards Alignment Earth and Science Standard, Content Standard D: Grades 5–8 Structure of the Earth System: The atmosphere is a mixture of nitrogen, oxygen, and trace gases that include water vapor. The atmosphere has different properties at different elevations. Time One class period (40–50 minutes) Materials 1 Graph paper 1 Activity sheet Forces of Change » Atmosphere » Activity 1 » Page 2 ACTIVITY 1 OBJECTIVES Students will be able to: e Describe the main layers of Earth’s atmosphere, the proportion of each in the atmosphere, and what role each plays in atmospheric phenomena. r Define how the temperature varies from layer to layer of atmosphere. t Calculate the quantities of gases in a particular volume of air, such as their classroom. Background What we call the atmosphere comes in five main layers: exosphere, thermosphere, mesosphere, stratosphere, and troposphere. In the exosphere (640 to 64,000 km, or 400 to 40,000 mi), air dwin- dles to nothing as molecules drift into space. The thermosphere (80 to 640 km or 50 to 400 mi) is very hot despite being very thin because it The Aura Earth-observing satellite absorbs so much solar radiation.
    [Show full text]
  • Jupiter and Saturn
    Jupiter and Saturn 1 2 3 Guiding Questions 1. Why is the best month to see Jupiter different from one year to the next? 2. Why are there important differences between the atmospheres of Jupiter and Saturn? 3. What is going on in Jupiter’s Great Red Spot? 4. What is the nature of the multicolored clouds of Jupiter and Saturn? 5. What does the chemical composition of Jupiter’s atmosphere imply about the planet’s origin? 6. How do astronomers know about the deep interiors of Jupiter and Saturn? 7. How do Jupiter and Saturn generate their intense magnetic fields? 8. Why would it be dangerous for humans to visit certain parts of the space around Jupiter? 9. How was it discovered that Saturn has rings? 10.Are Saturn’s rings actually solid bands that encircle the planet? 11. How uniform and smooth are Saturn’s rings? 4 12.How do Saturn’s satellites affect the character of its rings? Jupiter and Saturn are the most massive planets in the solar system • Jupiter and Saturn are both much larger than Earth • Each is composed of 71% hydrogen, 24% helium, and 5% all other elements by mass • Both planets have a higher percentage of heavy elements than does the Sun • Jupiter and Saturn both rotate so rapidly that the planets are noticeably flattened 5 Unlike the terrestrial planets, Jupiter and Saturn exhibit differential rotation 6 Atmospheres • The visible “surfaces” of Jupiter and Saturn are actually the tops of their clouds • The rapid rotation of the planets twists the clouds into dark belts and light zones that run parallel to the equator • The
    [Show full text]
  • A Featureless Transmission Spectrum for the Neptune-Mass Exoplanet GJ 436B
    A featureless transmission spectrum for the Neptune-mass exoplanet GJ 436b Heather A. Knutson1, Björn Benneke1,2, Drake Deming3, & Derek Homeier4 1Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA. 2Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. 3Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA. 4Centre de Recherche Astrophysique de Lyon, 69364 Lyon, France. GJ 436b is a warm (approximately 800 K) extrasolar planet that periodically eclipses its low-mass (0.5 MSun) host star, and is one of the few Neptune-mass planets that is amenable to detailed characterization. Previous observations1,2,3 have indicated that its atmosphere has a methane-to-CO ratio that is 105 times smaller than predicted by models for hydrogen-dominated atmospheres at these temperatures4,5. A recent study proposed that this unusual chemistry could be explained if the planet’s atmosphere is significantly enhanced in elements heavier than H and He6. In this study we present complementary observations of GJ 436b’s atmosphere obtained during transit. Our observations indicate that the planet’s transmission spectrum is effectively featureless, ruling out cloud-free, hydrogen-dominated atmosphere models with a significance of 48σ. The measured spectrum is consistent with either a high cloud or haze layer located at a pressure of approximately 1 mbar or with a relatively hydrogen-poor (3% H/He mass fraction) atmospheric composition7,8,9. We observed four transits of the Neptune-mass planet GJ 436b on UT Oct 26, Nov 29, and Dec 10 2012, and Jan 2 2013 using the red grism (1.2-1.6 µm) on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Wide Field Camera 3 instrument.
    [Show full text]
  • Nitrogen Dioxide Pollution As a Signature of Extraterrestrial Technology
    Draft version February 10, 2021 Typeset using LATEX default style in AASTeX63 Nitrogen Dioxide Pollution as a Signature of Extraterrestrial Technology Ravi Kopparapu ,1 Giada Arney,1 Jacob Haqq-Misra ,2 Jacob Lustig-Yaeger ,3 and Geronimo Villanueva 1 1NASA Goddard Space Flight Center 8800 Greenbelt Road Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA 2Blue Marble Space Institute of Science, Seattle, WA, USA 3Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD 20723, USA Submitted to ApJ ABSTRACT Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) on Earth today has biogenic and anthropogenic sources. During the COVID- 19 pandemic, observations of global NO2 emissions have shown significant decrease in urban areas. Drawing upon this example of NO2 as an industrial byproduct, we use a one-dimensional photo- chemical model and synthetic spectral generator to assess the detectability of NO2 as an atmospheric technosignature on exoplanets. We consider cases of an Earth-like planet around Sun-like, K-dwarf and M-dwarf stars. We find that NO2 concentrations increase on planets around cooler stars due to less short-wavelength photons that can photolyze NO2. In cloud-free results, present Earth-level NO2 on an Earth-like planet around a Sun-like star at 10pc can be detected with SNR ∼ 5 within ∼ 400 hours with a 15 meter LUVOIR-like telescope when observed in the 0:2 − 0:7µm range where NO2 has a strong absorption. However, clouds and aerosols can reduce the detectability and could mimic the NO2 feature. Historically, global NO2 levels were 3x higher, indicating the capability of detecting a 40-year old Earth-level civilization. Transit and direct imaging observations to detect infrared spectral signatures of NO2 on habitable planets around M-dwarfs would need several 100s of hours of obser- vation time, both due to weaker NO2 absorption in this region, and also because of masking features by dominant H2O and CO2 bands in the infrared part of the spectrum.
    [Show full text]