Webb finds water vapor, but from a rocky planet or its star?

Date:
May 1, 2023
Source:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
Summary:
The most common stars in the universe are red dwarf stars, which
means that rocky exoplanets are most likely to be found orbiting
such a star.

Red dwarf stars are cool, so a planet has to hug it in a tight orbit
to stay warm enough to potentially host liquid water (meaning
it lies in the habitable zone). Such stars are also active,
particularly when they are young, releasing ultraviolet and X-ray
radiation that could destroy planetary atmospheres. As a result, one
important open question in astronomy is whether a rocky planet could
maintain, or reestablish, an atmosphere in such a harsh environment.


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FULL STORY ==========================================================================
The most common stars in the universe are red dwarf stars, which means
that rocky exoplanets are most likely to be found orbiting such a
star. Red dwarf stars are cool, so a planet has to hug it in a tight
orbit to stay warm enough to potentially host liquid water (meaning it
lies in the habitable zone). Such stars are also active, particularly
when they are young, releasing ultraviolet and X-ray radiation that could destroy planetary atmospheres. As a result, one important open question
in astronomy is whether a rocky planet could maintain, or reestablish,
an atmosphere in such a harsh environment.

To help answer that question, astronomers used NASA's James Webb Space Telescope to study a rocky exoplanet known as GJ 486 b. It is too close
to its star to be within the habitable zone, with a surface temperature
of about 800 degrees Fahrenheit (430 degrees Celsius). And yet, their observations using Webb's Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) show
hints of water vapor. If the water vapor is associated with the planet,
that would indicate that it has an atmosphere despite its scorching
temperature and close proximity to its star.

Water vapor has been seen on gaseous exoplanets before, but to date no atmosphere has been definitely detected around a rocky exoplanet. However,
the team cautions that the water vapor could be on the star itself -- specifically, in cool starspots -- and not from the planet at all.

"We see a signal, and it's almost certainly due to water. But we can't
tell yet if that water is part of the planet's atmosphere, meaning the
planet has an atmosphere, or if we're just seeing a water signature coming
from the star," said Sarah Moran of the University of Arizona in Tucson,
lead author of the study.

"Water vapor in an atmosphere on a hot rocky planet would represent
a major breakthrough for exoplanet science. But we must be careful and
make sure that the star is not the culprit," added Kevin Stevenson of the
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, principal investigator on the program.

GJ 486 b is about 30% larger than Earth and three times as massive,
which means it is a rocky world with stronger gravity than Earth. It
orbits a red dwarf star in just under 1.5 Earth days. It is expected to
be tidally locked, with a permanent day side and a permanent night side.

GJ 486 b transits its star, crossing in front of the star from our point
of view. If it has an atmosphere, then when it transits starlight would
filter through those gasses, imprinting fingerprints in the light that
allow astronomers to decode its composition through a technique called transmission spectroscopy.

The team observed two transits, each lasting about an hour. They then
used three different methods to analyze the resulting data. The results
from all three are consistent in that they show a mostly flat spectrum
with an intriguing rise at the shortest infrared wavelengths. The team
ran computer models considering a number of different molecules, and
concluded that the most likely source of the signal was water vapor.

While the water vapor could potentially indicate the presence of an
atmosphere on GJ 486 b, an equally plausible explanation is water vapor
from the star.

Surprisingly, even in our own Sun, water vapor can sometimes exist in
sunspots because these spots are very cool compared to the surrounding
surface of the star. GJ 486 b's host star is much cooler than the Sun,
so even more water vapor would concentrate within its starspots. As a
result, it could create a signal that mimics a planetary atmosphere.

"We didn't observe evidence of the planet crossing any starspots during
the transits. But that doesn't mean that there aren't spots elsewhere
on the star.

And that's exactly the physical scenario that would imprint this
water signal into the data and could wind up looking like a planetary atmosphere," explained Ryan MacDonald of the University of Michigan in
Ann Arbor, one of the study's co-authors.

A water vapor atmosphere would be expected to gradually erode due to
stellar heating and irradiation. As a result, if an atmosphere is present,
it would likely have to be constantly replenished by volcanoes ejecting
steam from the planet's interior. If the water is indeed in the planet's atmosphere, additional observations are needed to narrow down how much
water is present.

Future Webb observations may shed more light on this system. An upcoming
Webb program will use the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) to observe
the planet's day side. If the planet has no atmosphere, or only a thin atmosphere, then the hottest part of the day side is expected to be
directly under the star.

However, if the hottest point is shifted, that would indicate an
atmosphere that can circulate heat.

Ultimately, observations at shorter infrared wavelengths by another Webb instrument, the Near-Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (NIRISS),
will be needed to differentiate between the planetary atmosphere and
starspot scenarios.

"It's joining multiple instruments together that will really pin down
whether or not this planet has an atmosphere," said Stevenson.

* RELATED_TOPICS
o Space_&_Time
# Stars # Extrasolar_Planets # Astronomy # Mars # Pluto #
Eris_(Xena) # Jupiter # Kuiper_Belt
* RELATED_TERMS
o Open_cluster o Red_supergiant_star o Extrasolar_planet o
Star_cluster o Chandra_X-ray_Observatory o Globular_cluster
o Astronomy o Planet

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by
NASA/Goddard_Space_Flight_Center. Note: Content may be edited for style
and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Moran, S.E. and Stevenson, K.B., Sing, D.K., MacDonald, R.J.,
et al. High
Tide or Rip-Tide on the Cosmic Shoreline? A Water-Rich
Atmosphere or Stellar Contamination on GJ 486b from JWST
Observations. Astrophysical Journal Letters, accepted April 2023 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/05/230501143017.htm

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