A warm Neptune's methane reveals core mass and vigorous atmospheric mixing.

ABSTRACT: Observations of transiting gas giant exoplanets have revealed a pervasive depletion of methane^1-4, which has only recently been identified atmospherically^5,6. The depletion is thought to be maintained by disequilibrium processes such as photochemistry or mixing from a hotter interior^7-9. However, the interiors are largely unconstrained along with the vertical mixing strength and only upper limits on the CH₄ depletion have been available. The warm Neptune WASP-107b stands out among exoplanets with an unusually low density, reported low core mass¹⁰, and temperatures amenable to CH₄, though previous observations have yet to find the molecule^2,4. Here we present a JWST-NIRSpec transmission spectrum of WASP-107b that s

SUBMITTER: Sing DK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11208151 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature