WASP-96b

WASP-96b
	Spectrum of WASP-96b, taken by the James Webb Space Telescope
Discovery
Discovered by	Hellier et al. (WASP)
Discovery date	October 2013
Detection method	Transit
Orbital characteristics
Semi-major axis	0.0454±0.0013 AU
Eccentricity	<0.11
Orbital period (sidereal)	3.4252602(27) d
Inclination	85.60°±0.20°
Semi-amplitude	64.0+5.3; −4.8 m/s
Physical characteristics
Mean radius	1.200±0.060 RJ
Mass	0.490+0.049; −0.047 MJ
Mean density	0.352+0.068; −0.059 g/cm3
Temperature	1285 K

WASP-96b is a gas giant exoplanet. Its mass is 0.48 times that of Jupiter. It is 0.0453 AU from the class G star WASP-96, which it orbits every 3.4 days. It is about 1,140 light-years away from Earth, in the constellation Phoenix. It was discovered in 2013 by the Wide Angle Search for Planets (WASP).

WASP-96b orbits its Sun-like star WASP-96 every 3.4 Earth days at a distance just one-ninth of the distance between Mercury and the Sun.^[3]

The hot-Jupiter exoplanet was found via the transiting method by Coel Hellier et.al. in 2013 as part of the WASP-South survey.^[1]

Atmosphere

WASP-96b's spectrum was one of the images featured in the initial science release from the James Webb Space Telescope in July 2022.^[4] The spectrum confirmed the presence of water, as well as providing evidence for "clouds and hazes" within the planet's atmosphere.^[3] Prior to this discovery, WASP-96b was thought to be free of clouds.^[5]^[6]

While the light curve released confirms properties of the planet that had already been determined from other observations – the existence, size, and orbit of the planet – the transmission spectrum revealed previously hidden details of the atmosphere: the unambiguous signature of water, indications of haze, and evidence of clouds that were suspected based on prior observations.^[7]

A study in 2023 measured the abundance of certain chemical species in the atmosphere of WASP-96b as seen in the table below.^[8] Models of the atmosphere with patchy clouds and hazes best describes the observations through the James Webb Space Telescope.^[8]


Chemical Species^[8]	log(VMR)^[8]	Concentration
Water vapor	-3.59^+0.35 _−0.35	257 ppm
Carbon monoxide	-3.25^+0.91 _−5.06	562 ppm
Carbon dioxide	-4.38^+0.47 _−0.57	41.7 ppm
Sodium	-6.85^+2.48 _−3.10	141 ppb
Potassium	-8.04^+1.22 _−1.71	9.12 ppb

References

^ a b c Hellier, Coel; Anderson, D. R.; Cameron, A. Collier; Delrez, L.; Gillon, M.; Jehin, E.; Lendl, M.; Maxted, P. F. L.; Pepe, F.; Pollacco, D.; Queloz, D.; Ségransan, D.; Smalley, B.; Smith, A. M. S.; Southworth, J.; Triaud, A. H. M. J.; Udry, S.; West, R. G. (2013), "Transiting hot Jupiters from WASP-South, Euler and TRAPPIST: WASP-95b to WASP-101b", Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 440 (3): 1982–1992, arXiv:1310.5630, Bibcode:2014MNRAS.440.1982H, doi:10.1093/mnras/stu410
^ a b Bonomo, A. S.; Desidera, S.; et al. (June 2017). "The GAPS Programme with HARPS-N at TNG. XIV. Investigating giant planet migration history via improved eccentricity and mass determination for 231 transiting planets". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 602: A107. arXiv:1704.00373. Bibcode:2017A&A...602A.107B. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201629882. S2CID 118923163.
^ a b "NASA's Webb Reveals Steamy Atmosphere of Distant Planet in Detail". NASA. 11 July 2022. Retrieved 12 July 2022.
^ Cesari, Thaddeus (2022-07-11). "NASA Shares List of Cosmic Targets for Webb Telescope's First Images". NASA. Archived from the original on 2022-07-12. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
^ Jorgenson, Amber (2018-05-08). "WASP-96b: the cloudless exoplanet". Astronomy.com. Retrieved 2022-07-08.
^ McGruder, Chima D.; López-Morales, Mercedes; Kirk, James; Espinoza, Néstor; Rackham, Benjamin V.; Alam, Munazza K.; Allen, Natalie; Nikolov, Nikolay; Weaver, Ian C.; Ortiz Ceballos, Kevin; Osip, David J.; Apai, Dániel; Jordán, Andrés; Fortney, Jonathan J. (2022), "ACCESS: Confirmation of a Clear Atmosphere for WASP-96b and a Comparison of Light Curve Detrending Techniques", The Astronomical Journal, 164 (4): 134, arXiv:2207.03479, Bibcode:2022AJ....164..134M, doi:10.3847/1538-3881/ac7f2e, S2CID 250334756
^ Samra, D.; Helling, Ch.; Chubb, K. L.; Min, M.; Carone, L.; Schneider, A. D. (2023), "Clouds form on the hot Saturn JWST ERO target WASP-96b", Astronomy & Astrophysics, 669: A142, arXiv:2211.00633, Bibcode:2023A&A...669A.142S, doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202244939, S2CID 253244425
^ a b c d Taylor, Jake; et al. (May 2023). "Awesome SOSS: Atmospheric Characterisation of WASP-96 b using the JWST Early Release Observations". MNRAS. 524: 817–834. arXiv:2305.16887. Bibcode:2023MNRAS.524..817T. doi:10.1093/mnras/stad1547.

External links

Media related to WASP-96 b at Wikimedia Commons

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[Hellier2013-1] Hellier, Coel; Anderson, D. R.; Cameron, A. Collier; Delrez, L.; Gillon, M.; Jehin, E.; Lendl, M.; Maxted, P. F. L.; Pepe, F.; Pollacco, D.; Queloz, D.; Ségransan, D.; Smalley, B.; Smith, A. M. S.; Southworth, J.; Triaud, A. H. M. J.; Udry, S.; West, R. G. (2013), "Transiting hot Jupiters from WASP-South, Euler and TRAPPIST: WASP-95b to WASP-101b", Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 440 (3): 1982–1992, arXiv:1310.5630, Bibcode:2014MNRAS.440.1982H, doi:10.1093/mnras/stu410

[Bonomo2017-2] Bonomo, A. S.; Desidera, S.; et al. (June 2017). "The GAPS Programme with HARPS-N at TNG. XIV. Investigating giant planet migration history via improved eccentricity and mass determination for 231 transiting planets". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 602: A107. arXiv:1704.00373. Bibcode:2017A&A...602A.107B. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201629882. S2CID 118923163.

[NASA-20220712-3] "NASA's Webb Reveals Steamy Atmosphere of Distant Planet in Detail". NASA. 11 July 2022. Retrieved 12 July 2022.

[4] Cesari, Thaddeus (2022-07-11). "NASA Shares List of Cosmic Targets for Webb Telescope's First Images". NASA. Archived from the original on 2022-07-12. Retrieved 2022-07-12.

[5] Jorgenson, Amber (2018-05-08). "WASP-96b: the cloudless exoplanet". Astronomy.com. Retrieved 2022-07-08.

[6] McGruder, Chima D.; López-Morales, Mercedes; Kirk, James; Espinoza, Néstor; Rackham, Benjamin V.; Alam, Munazza K.; Allen, Natalie; Nikolov, Nikolay; Weaver, Ian C.; Ortiz Ceballos, Kevin; Osip, David J.; Apai, Dániel; Jordán, Andrés; Fortney, Jonathan J. (2022), "ACCESS: Confirmation of a Clear Atmosphere for WASP-96b and a Comparison of Light Curve Detrending Techniques", The Astronomical Journal, 164 (4): 134, arXiv:2207.03479, Bibcode:2022AJ....164..134M, doi:10.3847/1538-3881/ac7f2e, S2CID 250334756

[7] Samra, D.; Helling, Ch.; Chubb, K. L.; Min, M.; Carone, L.; Schneider, A. D. (2023), "Clouds form on the hot Saturn JWST ERO target WASP-96b", Astronomy & Astrophysics, 669: A142, arXiv:2211.00633, Bibcode:2023A&A...669A.142S, doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202244939, S2CID 253244425

[Taylor2023-8] Taylor, Jake; et al. (May 2023). "Awesome SOSS: Atmospheric Characterisation of WASP-96 b using the JWST Early Release Observations". MNRAS. 524: 817–834. arXiv:2305.16887. Bibcode:2023MNRAS.524..817T. doi:10.1093/mnras/stad1547.

WASP-96b

Atmosphere

See also

References

External links