IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nature/v464y2010i7292d10.1038_nature09013.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Possible thermochemical disequilibrium in the atmosphere of the exoplanet GJ 436b

Author

Listed:
  • Kevin B. Stevenson

    (Planetary Sciences Group, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida 32816, USA)

  • Joseph Harrington

    (Planetary Sciences Group, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida 32816, USA)

  • Sarah Nymeyer

    (Planetary Sciences Group, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida 32816, USA)

  • Nikku Madhusudhan

    (Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA)

  • Sara Seager

    (Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA)

  • William C. Bowman

    (Planetary Sciences Group, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida 32816, USA)

  • Ryan A. Hardy

    (Planetary Sciences Group, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida 32816, USA)

  • Drake Deming

    (Planetary Systems Laboratory, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771, USA)

  • Emily Rauscher

    (Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, USA)

  • Nate B. Lust

    (Planetary Sciences Group, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida 32816, USA)

Abstract

A 'hot Neptune' low on gas New observations in the infrared provide the first indications of the atmospheric composition of a 'hot Neptune' extrasolar planet, Gliese 436b (GJ 436b). A companion to an M-dwarf star, GJ 436b exhibits a high abundance of carbon monoxide. Water and trace amounts of carbon dioxide are also present but the concentration of methane, expected to be the dominant carbon-bearing species in a hydrogen-dominated atmosphere, is 100,000 times less than predicted for a planet in thermochemical equilibrium. Possible disruptive influences include vertical mixing and methane polymerization. The measurements were accomplished at six wavelengths using the Spitzer Space Telescope while the planet passed behind its parent star on a short, 2.64-day orbit.

Suggested Citation

  • Kevin B. Stevenson & Joseph Harrington & Sarah Nymeyer & Nikku Madhusudhan & Sara Seager & William C. Bowman & Ryan A. Hardy & Drake Deming & Emily Rauscher & Nate B. Lust, 2010. "Possible thermochemical disequilibrium in the atmosphere of the exoplanet GJ 436b," Nature, Nature, vol. 464(7292), pages 1161-1164, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:464:y:2010:i:7292:d:10.1038_nature09013
    DOI: 10.1038/nature09013
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/nature09013
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/nature09013?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:464:y:2010:i:7292:d:10.1038_nature09013. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.