IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nature/v469y2011i7328d10.1038_nature09602.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A high C/O ratio and weak thermal inversion in the atmosphere of exoplanet WASP-12b

Author

Listed:
  • Nikku Madhusudhan

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    Present address: Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA.)

  • Joseph Harrington

    (Planetary Sciences Group, University of Central Florida)

  • Kevin B. Stevenson

    (Planetary Sciences Group, University of Central Florida)

  • Sarah Nymeyer

    (Planetary Sciences Group, University of Central Florida)

  • Christopher J. Campo

    (Planetary Sciences Group, University of Central Florida)

  • Peter J. Wheatley

    (University of Warwick)

  • Drake Deming

    (NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center)

  • Jasmina Blecic

    (Planetary Sciences Group, University of Central Florida)

  • Ryan A. Hardy

    (Planetary Sciences Group, University of Central Florida)

  • Nate B. Lust

    (Planetary Sciences Group, University of Central Florida)

  • David R. Anderson

    (Astrophysics Group, Keele University)

  • Andrew Collier-Cameron

    (School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St Andrews)

  • Christopher B. T. Britt

    (Planetary Sciences Group, University of Central Florida)

  • William C. Bowman

    (Planetary Sciences Group, University of Central Florida)

  • Leslie Hebb

    (Vanderbilt University)

  • Coel Hellier

    (Astrophysics Group, Keele University)

  • Pierre F. L. Maxted

    (Astrophysics Group, Keele University)

  • Don Pollacco

    (Astrophysics Research Centre, School of Mathematics and Physics, Queen’s University, University Road)

  • Richard G. West

    (University of Leicester)

Abstract

A carbon-rich exoplanet The transiting 'hot Jupiter' WASP-12b orbits a star slightly hotter than the Sun in a circular orbit at a distance of only 0.023 astronomical units (AU), making it one of the hottest exoplanets known. An analysis of dayside multi-wavelength photometry of WASP-12b reveals a carbon-rich atmosphere abundant in carbon monoxide. Compared with model predictions, the atmosphere is depleted in water vapour and enhanced in methane content by two orders of magnitude. In addition, the absence of a strong thermal inversion or a prominent stratosphere challenges existing theories about the atmospheres of such exoplanets.

Suggested Citation

  • Nikku Madhusudhan & Joseph Harrington & Kevin B. Stevenson & Sarah Nymeyer & Christopher J. Campo & Peter J. Wheatley & Drake Deming & Jasmina Blecic & Ryan A. Hardy & Nate B. Lust & David R. Anderson, 2011. "A high C/O ratio and weak thermal inversion in the atmosphere of exoplanet WASP-12b," Nature, Nature, vol. 469(7328), pages 64-67, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:469:y:2011:i:7328:d:10.1038_nature09602
    DOI: 10.1038/nature09602
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/nature09602
    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/nature09602?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:469:y:2011:i:7328:d:10.1038_nature09602. 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.