Early Release Science of the exoplanet WASP-39b with JWST NIRSpec PRISM

Abstract

Transmission spectroscopy of exoplanets has revealed signatures of water vapor, aerosols, and alkali metals in a few dozen exoplanet atmospheres. However, these previous inferences with the Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescopes were hindered by the observations' relatively narrow wavelength range and spectral resolving power, which precluded the unambiguous identification of other chemical species$-$in particular the primary carbon-bearing molecules. Here we report a broad-wavelength 0.5-5.5 $\mu$m atmospheric transmission spectrum of WASP-39 b, a 1200 K, roughly Saturn-mass, Jupiter-radius exoplanet, measured with JWST NIRSpec's PRISM mode as part of the JWST Transiting Exoplanet Community Early Release Science Team program. We robustly detect multiple chemical species at high significance, including Na (19$\sigma$), H${}_2$O (33$\sigma$), CO${}_2$ (28$\sigma$), and CO (7$\sigma$). The non-detection of CH${}_4$, combined with a strong CO${}_2$ feature, favours atmospheric models with a super-solar atmospheric metallicity. An unanticipated absorption feature at 4$\mu$m is best explained by SO${}_2$ (2.7$\sigma$), which could be a tracer of atmospheric photochemistry. These observations demonstrate JWST's sensitivity to a rich diversity of exoplanet compositions and chemical processes.

arXiv comment41 pages, 4 main figures, 10 extended data figures, 4 tables. Under review in Nature

References in corpus (75)

• SciPy 1.0--Fundamental Algorithms for Scientific Computing in Python
• Array Programming with NumPy
• Astropy: A Community Python Package for Astronomy
• emcee: The MCMC Hammer
• The Astropy Project: Building an inclusive, open-science project and status of the v2.0 core package
• The Gaia mission
• dynesty: A Dynamic Nested Sampling Package for Estimating Bayesian Posteriors and Evidences
• X-ray spectral modelling of the AGN obscuring region in the CDFS: Bayesian model selection and catalogue
• Bayes in the sky: Bayesian inference and model selection in cosmology
• batman: BAsic Transit Model cAlculatioN in Python
• A continuum from clear to cloudy hot-Jupiter exoplanets without primordial water depletion
• Efficient, uninformative sampling of limb darkening coefficients for two-parameter laws
• Theoretical Transmission Spectra During Extrasolar Giant Planet Transits
• ExoMol molecular line lists XXX: a complete high-accuracy line list for water
• petitRADTRANS: a Python radiative transfer package for exoplanet characterization and retrieval
• The effect of red noise on planetary transit detection
• C/O ratio as a Dimension for Characterizing Exoplanetary Atmospheres
• The Mass-Metallicity Relation for Giant Planets
• Transmission Spectra as Diagnostics of Extrasolar Giant Planet Atmospheres
• STARRY: Analytic Occultation Light Curves
• A population study of gaseous exoplanets
• PandExo: A Community Tool for Transiting Exoplanet Science with JWST & HST
• How to Distinguish between Cloudy Mini-Neptunes and Water/Volatile-Dominated Super-Earths
• H- Opacity and Water Dissociation in the Dayside Atmosphere of the Very Hot Gas Giant WASP-18 b
• Atmospheric Sulfur Photochemistry on Hot Jupiters
• Water Vapor and Clouds on the Habitable-Zone Sub-Neptune Exoplanet K2-18b
• Comparative Planetary Atmospheres: Models of TrES-1 and HD209458b
• Stellar Limb-Darkening Coefficients for CoRot and Kepler
• Early Release Science of the Exoplanet WASP-39b with JWST NIRSpec G395H
• Fingering convection and cloudless models for cool brown dwarf atmospheres
• A Sub-Neptune Exoplanet with a Low-Metallicity Methane-Depleted Atmosphere and Mie-Scattering Clouds
• ExoMol molecular line lists - XVI: The rotation-vibration spectrum of hot H${}_2$S
• Mass-Metallicity Trends in Transiting Exoplanets from Atmospheric Abundances of H${}_2$O, Na, and K
• An accurate, extensive, and practical line list of methane for the HITEMP database
• Theory of Extrasolar Giant Planet Transits
• The Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) on the James Webb Space Telescope II. Multi-object spectroscopy (MOS)
• H${}_2$O abundances and cloud properties in ten hot giant exoplanets
• exoplanet: Gradient-based probabilistic inference for exoplanet data & other astronomical time series
• ExoMol molecular line lists - XIV: The rotation-vibration spectrum of hot SO${}_2$
• Early Release Science of the exoplanet WASP-39b with JWST NIRCam
• Identification of carbon dioxide in an exoplanet atmosphere
• The Complete transmission spectrum of WASP-39b with a precise water constraint
• Irradiated Planets
• Analytic Planetary Transit Light Curves and Derivatives for Stars with Polynomial Limb Darkening
• Retrieval analysis of 38 WFC3 transmission spectra and resolution of the normalisation degeneracy
• The Stagger-grid: A grid of 3D stellar atmosphere models - IV. Limb darkening coefficients
• Eureka!: An End-to-End Pipeline for JWST Time-Series Observations
• New study of the line profiles of sodium perturbed by H2
• A Comparative Study of Atmospheric Chemistry with VULCAN
• WASP-39b: a highly inflated Saturn-mass planet orbiting a late G-type star
• A library of ATMO forward model transmission spectra for hot Jupiter exoplanets
• The Transiting Exoplanet Community Early Release Science Program for JWST
• Spitzer Observations Confirm and Rescue the Habitable-Zone Super-Earth K2-18b for Future Characterization
• VLT FORS2 comparative transmission spectroscopy: Detection of Na in the atmosphere of WASP-39b from the ground
• Transiting Exoplanet Studies and Community Targets for JWST's Early Release Science Program
• Transit Signatures of Inhomogeneous Clouds on Hot Jupiters: Insights From Microphysical Cloud Modeling
• Atmospheric Regimes and Trends on Exoplanets and Brown Dwarfs
• JWST Noise Floor I: Random Error Sources in JWST NIRCam Time Series
• The GAPS Programme with HARPS-N at TNG XVI: Measurement of the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect of the transiting planetary systems HAT-P-3, HAT-P-12, HAT-P-22, WASP-39 and WASP-60
• The Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) on the James Webb Space Telescope IV. Capabilities and predicted performance for exoplanet characterization
• Rayleigh scattering in the transmission spectrum of HAT-P-18b
• HST hot-Jupiter transmission spectral survey: Clear skies for cool Saturn WASP-39b
• Analysis of a JWST NIRSpec Lab Time Series: Characterizing Systematics, Recovering Exoplanet Transit Spectroscopy, and Constraining a Noise Floor
• ACCESS & LRG-BEASTS: a precise new optical transmission spectrum of the ultrahot Jupiter WASP-103b
• A Library of Self-Consistent Simulated Exoplanet Atmospheres
• Ground- and Space-based Detection of the Thermal Emission Spectrum of the Transiting Hot Jupiter KELT-2Ab
• LRG-BEASTS: transmission spectroscopy and retrieval analysis of the highly-inflated Saturn-mass planet WASP-39b
• Sulfur Chemistry in the Atmospheres of Warm and Hot Jupiters
• The Impact of Circumplantary Jets on Transit Spectra and Timing Offsets for Hot-Jupiters
• Transmission spectroscopy for the warm sub-Neptune HD3167c: evidence for molecular absorption and a possible high metallicity atmosphere
• The carbon-to-oxygen ratio: implications for the spectra of hydrogen-dominated exoplanet atmospheres
• The PHOENIX Exoplanet Retrieval Algorithm and Using H${}^{-}$ Opacity as a Probe in Ultra-hot Jupiters
• ExoTiC-ISM: A Python package for marginalised exoplanet transit parameters across a grid of systematic instrument models
• Atmospheric Characterization of Hot Jupiter CoRoT-1 b Using the Wide Field Camera 3 on the Hubble Space Telescope
• The Sonora Brown Dwarf Atmosphere and Evolution Models I. Model Description and Application to Cloudless Atmospheres in Rainout Chemical Equilibrium

Cited by in corpus (147)

• Early Release Science of the Exoplanet WASP-39b with JWST NIRSpec G395H
• Photochemically-produced SO${}_2$ in the atmosphere of WASP-39b
• Early Release Science of the exoplanet WASP-39b with JWST NIRISS
• No thick carbon dioxide atmosphere on the rocky exoplanet TRAPPIST-1 c
• Early Release Science of the exoplanet WASP-39b with JWST NIRCam
• High Tide or Riptide on the Cosmic Shoreline? A Water-Rich Atmosphere or Stellar Contamination for the Warm Super-Earth GJ~486b from JWST Observations
• Atmospheric Reconnaissance of TRAPPIST-1 b with JWST/NIRISS: Evidence for Strong Stellar Contamination in the Transmission Spectra
• A JWST transmission spectrum of a nearby Earth-sized exoplanet
• SO2, silicate clouds, but no CH4 detected in a warm Neptune
• Double Trouble: Two Transits of the Super-Earth GJ 1132 b Observed with JWST NIRSpec G395H
• The Sonora Substellar Atmosphere Models. IV. Elf Owl: Atmospheric Mixing and Chemical Disequilibrium with Varying Metallicity and C/O Ratios
• Sulphur dioxide in the mid-infrared transmission spectrum of WASP-39b
• A warm Neptune's methane reveals core mass and vigorous atmospheric mixing
• Awesome SOSS: Transmission Spectroscopy of WASP-96b with NIRISS/SOSS
• A Benchmark JWST Near-Infrared Spectrum for the Exoplanet WASP-39b
• Clouds and Clarity: Revisiting Atmospheric Feature Trends in Neptune-size Exoplanets
• JWST transmission spectroscopy of HD 209458b: a super-solar metallicity, a very low C/O, and no evidence of CH4, HCN, or C2H2
• High atmospheric metal enrichment for a Saturn-mass planet
• Awesome SOSS: Atmospheric Characterisation of WASP-96 b using the JWST Early Release Observations
• Volatile-to-sulfur Ratios Can Recover a Gas Giant's Accretion History
• Four-of-a-kind? Comprehensive atmospheric characterisation of the HR 8799 planets with VLTI/GRAVITY
• Quartz Clouds in the Dayside Atmosphere of the Quintessential Hot Jupiter HD 189733 b
• Atmospheres as windows into sub-Neptune interiors: coupled chemistry and structure of hydrogen-silane-water envelopes
• Hints of a sulfur-rich atmosphere around the 1.6 R${}_{\oplus }$ Super-Earth L98-59 d from JWST NIRSpec G395H transmission spectroscopy
• CO or no CO? Narrowing the CO abundance constraint and recovering the H2O detection in the atmosphere of WASP-127 b using SPIRou
• Atmospheric retrievals suggest the presence of a secondary atmosphere and possible sulfur species on L 98-59 d from JWST NIRSpec G395H transmission spectroscopy
• A JWST NIRSpec Phase Curve for WASP-121b: Dayside Emission Strongest Eastward of the Substellar Point and Nightside Conditions Conducive to Cloud Formation
• Homogeneous search for helium in the atmosphere of 11 gas giant exoplanets with SPIRou
• Nitrogen as a Tracer of Giant Planet Formation. I.: A Universal Deep Adiabatic Profile and Semi-analytical Predictions of Disequilibrium Ammonia Abundances in Warm Exoplanetary Atmospheres
• Exoplanet Spectroscopy with JWST NIRISS: Diagnostics and Case Studies
• A roadmap for the atmospheric characterization of terrestrial exoplanets with JWST
• Optical Properties of Organic Haze Analogues in Water-rich Exoplanet Atmospheres Observable with JWST
• Toward Robust Corrections for Stellar Contamination in JWST Exoplanet Transmission Spectra
• WIde Separation Planets In Time (WISPIT): A Gap-clearing Planet in a Multi-ringed Disk around the Young Solar-type Star WISPIT 2
• A Mini-Chemical Scheme with Net Reactions for 3D GCMs II. 3D thermochemical modelling of WASP-39b and HD 189733b
• BOWIE-ALIGN: How formation and migration histories of giant planets impact atmospheric compositions
• Multiple Clues for Dayside Aerosols and Temperature Gradients in WASP-69 b from a Panchromatic JWST Emission Spectrum
• ExoMol line lists -- LVI: The SO line list, MARVEL analysis of experimental transition data and refinement of the spectroscopic model
• Chemical mapping of temperate sub-Neptune atmospheres: Constraining the deep-interior H2O/H2 using the atmospheric CO2/CH4
• Primordial or Secondary? Testing models of debris disk gas with ALMA
• JWST-TST DREAMS: NIRSpec/PRISM Transmission Spectroscopy of the Habitable Zone Planet TRAPPIST-1 e
• Using JWST transits and occultations to determine $\sim 1\%$ stellar radii and temperatures of low-mass stars
• BOWIE-ALIGN: JWST reveals hints of planetesimal accretion and complex sulphur chemistry in the atmosphere of the misaligned hot Jupiter WASP-15b
• Detection of carbon monoxide's 4.6 micron fundamental band structure in WASP-39b's atmosphere with JWST NIRSpec G395H
• JWST-TST High Contrast: Living on the Wedge, or, NIRCam Bar Coronagraphy Reveals CO${}_2$ in the HR 8799 and 51 Eri Exoplanets' Atmospheres
• Resolved ALMA observations of water in the inner astronomical units of the HL Tau disk
• Planet Mass and Metallicity: The Exoplanets and Solar System Connection
• Global Chemical Transport on Hot Jupiters: Insights from 2D VULCAN photochemical model
• Dynamics and Clouds in Planetary Atmospheres from Telescopic Observations
• Transmission spectroscopy of WASP-52 b with JWST NIRISS: Water and helium atmospheric absorption, alongside prominent star-spot crossings
• Modelling dynamically driven global cloud formation microphysics in the HAT-P-1b atmosphere
• High-resolution atmospheric retrievals of WASP-76b transmission spectroscopy with ESPRESSO: Monitoring limb asymmetries across multiple transits
• Day-night transport induced chemistry and clouds on WASP-39b I: Gas-phase composition
• Dynamically coupled kinetic chemistry in brown dwarf atmospheres I. Performing global scale kinetic modelling
• Featureless transmission spectra of 12 giant exoplanets observed by GTC/OSIRIS
• Prebiosignature Molecules Can Be Detected in Temperate Exoplanet Atmospheres with JWST
• BOWIE-ALIGN: A JWST comparative survey of aligned vs misaligned hot Jupiters to test the dependence of atmospheric composition on migration history
• WASP-121b's transmission spectrum observed with JWST/NIRSpec G395H reveals thermal dissociation and SiO in the atmosphere
• Observation of undepleted phosphine in the atmosphere of a low-temperature brown dwarf
• The sulphur species in hot rocky exoplanet atmospheres
• PyExoCross: a Python program for generating spectra and cross-sections from molecular line lists
• Reflected spectroscopy of small exoplanets III: probing the UV band to measure biosignature gasses
• Knobs and dials of retrieving JWST transmission spectra. I. The importance of p-T profile complexity
• An absolute mass, precise age, and hints of planetary winds for WASP-121 A and b from a JWST NIRSpec phase curve
• Tracing the formation and migration history: molecular signatures in the atmosphere of misaligned hot Jupiter WASP-94Ab using JWST NIRSpec/G395H
• ExoLyn: a golden mean approach to multi-species cloud modelling in atmospheric retrieval
• Why heterogeneous cloud particles matter: Iron-bearing species and cloud particle morphology affects exoplanet transmission spectra
• Cloud and Haze Parameterization in Atmospheric Retrievals: Insights from Titan's Cassini Data and JWST Observations of Hot Jupiters
• Automated chemical reaction network generation and its application to exoplanet atmospheres
• Photodissociation and induced chemical asymmetries on ultra-hot gas giants. A case study of HCN on WASP-76 b
• Detecting Planetary Oblateness in the Era of JWST: A Case Study of Kepler-167e
• Constraining the formation of WASP-39b using JWST transit spectroscopy
• Ab initio quantum dynamics as a scalable solution to the exoplanet opacity challenge: A case study of CO${}_2$ in hydrogen atmosphere
• Additional JWST/NIRSpec Transits of the Rocky M Dwarf Exoplanet GJ 1132 b Reveal a Featureless Spectrum
• A transiting giant planet in orbit around a 0.2-solar-mass host star
• Grid-Based Atmospheric Retrievals for Reflected-Light Spectra of Exoplanets using PSGnest
• A High-Resolution Spectroscopic Survey of Directly Imaged Companion Hosts: I. Determination of diagnostic stellar abundances for planet formation and composition
• LRG-BEASTS: Evidence for clouds in the transmission spectrum of HATS-46 b
• A physically derived eddy parameterization for giant planet atmospheres with application on hot-Jupiter atmospheres
• Enabling Robust Exoplanet Atmospheric Retrievals with Gaussian Processes
• Breaking degeneracies in exoplanetary parameters through self-consistent atmosphere-interior modelling
• Refractory and Volatile Species in the UV-to-IR Transmission Spectrum of Ultra-hot Jupiter WASP-178b with HST and JWST
• PICASO 4.0: Clouds and Photochemistry in Climate Models of Brown Dwarfs and Exoplanets
• Diversity in the haziness and chemistry of temperate sub-Neptunes
• Deciphering Sub-Neptune Atmospheres: New Insights from Geochemical Models of TOI-270 d
• squishyplanet: Modeling Transits of Non-spherical Exoplanets in JAX
• A Population Analysis of 20 Exoplanets Observed from the Optical to the Near-infrared Wavelengths with HST: Evidence for Widespread Stellar Contamination
• The Effect of Metallicity on the Non-Equilibrium Abundance of Hydrogen Dominated Exoplanet Atmosphere
• Cloudy mornings and clear evenings on a gas giant exoplanet
• An extremely low-density exoplanet spins slow
• Strong NUV Refractory Absorption and Dissociated Water in the Hubble Transmission Spectrum of the Ultra Hot Jupiter KELT-20 b
• Comparing transit spectroscopy pipelines at the catalogue level: evidence for systematic differences
• ARES VI: Viability of one-dimensional retrieval models for transmission spectroscopy characterization of exo-atmospheres in the era of JWST and Ariel
• An HST Transmission Spectrum of the Closest M-Dwarf Transiting Rocky Planet LTT 1445Ab
• Unraveling the non-equilibrium chemistry of the temperate sub-Neptune K2-18 b
• Effects of transient stellar emissions on planetary climates of tidally-locked exo-earths
• How do wavelength correlations affect transmission spectra? Application of a new fast and flexible 2D Gaussian process framework to transiting exoplanet spectroscopy
• An Analytic Characterization of the Limb Asymmetry -- Transit Time Degeneracy
• Under the magnifying glass: A combined 3D model applied to cloudy warm Saturn type exoplanets around M-dwarfs
• Probing reflection from aerosols with the near-infrared dayside spectrum of WASP-80b
• GEMS JWST: Transmission spectroscopy of TOI-5205b reveals significant stellar contamination and a metal-poor atmosphere
• The effect of spectroscopic binning on atmospheric retrievals
• Signature of the atmospheric asymmetries of hot and ultra-hot Jupiters in lightcurves
• Using a neural network approach to accelerate disequilibrium chemistry calculations in exoplanet atmospheres
• Lessons from Hubble and Spitzer: 1D Self-Consistent Model Grids for 19 Hot Jupiter Emission Spectra
• The role of cloud particle properties on WASP-39b transmission spectrum based on JWST/NIRSpec observations
• Detectability of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in the Atmosphere of WASP-6 b with JWST NIRSpec PRISM
• A Detailed Investigation of HD 209458 b HST & JWST Transmission Spectra with SANSAR
• The ESPRESSO transmission spectrum of HD189733b : Extracting the planetary sodium and lithium signatures amid stellar contamination
• TOI-1199 b and TOI-1273 b: Two new transiting hot Saturns detected and characterized with SOPHIE and TESS
• Experimental Investigation of the Photochemical Production of Hydrocarbons in Warm Gas Giant Exoplanet Atmospheres
• A Comprehensive Analysis of the Panchromatic Transmission Spectrum of the Hot-Saturn WASP-96 b: Nondetection of Haze, Possible Sodium Limb Asymmetry, Stellar Characterization, and Formation History
• Can Isotopologues Be Used as Biosignature Gases in Exoplanet Atmospheres?
• A new pathway to SO${}_2$: Revealing the NUV driven sulfur chemistry in hot gas giants
• Probing Two-dimensional Asymmetries of an Exoplanet Atmosphere from Chromatic Transit Variation
• Aerosols and hydrocarbons in the atmosphere of a white dwarf planet
• Detection of Na in the atmosphere of the hot Jupiter HAT-P-55b
• Exploring Exoplanet Dynamics with JWST: Tides, Rotation, Rings, and Moons
• Evidence for a Nonzero Eccentricity Superpuff Exoplanet WASP-107 b Using JWST Occultation Observation
• Detection of CO${}_2$, CO, and H${}_2$O in the atmosphere of the warm sub-Saturn HAT-P-12b
• From Global Climate Models (GCMs) to Exoplanet Spectra with the Global Emission Spectra (GlobES)
• Knobs and dials of retrieving JWST transmission spectra. II. Impacts of pipeline-level differences on retrieval posteriors
• Warm Jupiters around M-dwarfs are great opportunities for extensive chemical, cloud and haze characterisation with JWST
• DARWEN: Data-driven Algorithm for Reduction of Wide Exoplanetary Networks
• A Global Perspective with Updated Constraints on the Ultra-hot Jupiter WASP-19b: Atmospheric Properties and Stellar Activity
• Ground-Based Reconnaissance Observations of 21 Exoplanet Atmospheres with the Exoplanet Transmission Spectroscopy Imager
• Limb-Darkening Coefficients for the 4-Term and Power-2 Laws for the JWST Space Mission, Adopting PHOENIX Spherical Models at High Resolution
• Quantum jump photodetector for narrowband photon counting with a single atom
• Separating flare and secondary atmospheric signals with RADYN modeling of near-infrared JWST transmission spectroscopy observations of TRAPPIST-1
• KRONOS I: The $1-2.8\mu$m JWST Transmission Spectrum of the 23 Myr V1298 Tau c
• A new look into the atmospheric composition of WASP-39 b
• Evidence for stellar contamination and water absorption in NGTS-5b's transmission spectra with GTC/OSIRIS
• Sub-Neptunes as Soot Factories: Deep Atmosphere Hydrocarbon Formation and Quenching as the Origin of Sub-Neptune Aerosol Trends
• Atmospheric asymmetries in WASP-121 b revealed by rotational transits detected with JWST
• Direct Images of CO2 Absorption in the Atmosphere of a Super-Jupiter: Enhanced Metallicity Suggestive of Formation in a Disk
• Deciphering transmission spectra by exploring the solar paradigm
• Exploring Synergies between Twinkle and Ariel: a Pilot Study
• An Informational-Entropic Approach to Exoplanet Characterization
• Information content of JWST transmission spectroscopy of the exoplanet HAT-P-12b from the optical to the mid-infrared
• The effect of JWST/NIRSpec data reduction on the retrieval of WASP-39b atmospheric properties
• Glow reduction of ultra-low noise LmAPDs: towards photon counting infrared arrays
• Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Roman Sees Where You Are: Predicting Exoplanet Transit Yields in the Rosette Nebula with the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope
• The HUSTLE Program: The UV to Near-IR Transmission Spectrum of the Hot Jupiter KELT-7b
• Analytical transit light curves for arbitrary power-law limb darkening: a unified framework
• Assessment of a Physics-based Retrieval of Exoplanet Atmospheric Temperatures from Infrared Emission Spectra
• ExoEcho: Exoplanet Ephemerides Change Observations. III. A JWST Survey for Transit Timing Variations of 37 Exoplanets
• $\text{Exoformer}$: Accelerating Bayesian atmospheric retrievals with transformer neural networks