A warm Neptune’s methane reveals core mass and vigorous atmospheric mixing (2024)

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Abstract Access options Additional access options: Similar content being viewed by others A sub-Neptune exoplanet with a low-metallicity methane-depleted atmosphere and Mie-scattering clouds A high internal heat flux and large core in a warm neptune exoplanet Methane throughout the atmosphere of the warm exoplanet WASP-80b Author information Authors and Affiliations Corresponding author Supplementary information Peer Review File Rights and permissions About this article Cite this article Comments

Abstract

Observations of transiting gas giant exoplanets have revealed a pervasive depletion of methane1,2,3,4, which has only recently been identified atmospherically5,6. The depletion is thought to be maintained by disequilibrium processes such as photochemistry or mixing from a hotter interior7,8,9. However, the interiors are largely unconstrained along with the vertical mixing strength and only upper limits on the CH4 depletion have been available. The warm Neptune WASP-107 b stands out among exoplanets with an unusually low density, reported low core mass10, and temperatures amenable to CH4 though previous observations have yet to find the molecule2,4. Here we present a JWST NIRSpec transmission spectrum of WASP-107 b which shows features from both SO2 and CH4 along with H2O, CO2, and CO. We detect methane with 4.2σ significance at an abundance of 1.0±0.5 ppm, which is depleted by 3 orders of magnitude relative to equilibrium expectations. Our results are highly constraining for the atmosphere and interior, which indicate the envelope has a super-solar metallicity of 43±8× solar, a hot interior with an intrinsic temperature of Tint=460±40 K, and vigorous vertical mixing which depletes CH4 with a diffusion coefficient of Kzz = 1011.6±0.1 cm2/s. Photochemistry has a negligible effect on the CH4 abundance, but is needed to account for the SO2. We infer a core mass of \({{\boldsymbol{11.5}}}_{-{\boldsymbol{3.6}}}^{+{\boldsymbol{3.0}}}\) M⊕, which is much higher than previous upper limits10, releasing a tension with core-accretion models11.

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Similar content being viewed by others

A warm Neptune’s methane reveals core mass and vigorous atmospheric mixing (1)

A sub-Neptune exoplanet with a low-metallicity methane-depleted atmosphere and Mie-scattering clouds

Article 01 July 2019

A warm Neptune’s methane reveals core mass and vigorous atmospheric mixing (2)

A high internal heat flux and large core in a warm neptune exoplanet

Article 20 May 2024

A warm Neptune’s methane reveals core mass and vigorous atmospheric mixing (3)

Methane throughout the atmosphere of the warm exoplanet WASP-80b

Article 22 November 2023

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA

    David K. Sing&Zafar Rustamkulov

  2. Department of Physics & Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA

    David K. Sing,Daniel P. Thorngren&Elena Manjavacas

  3. School of Physical Sciences, The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK

    Joanna K. Barstow

  4. Université Paris-Saclay, UVSQ, CNRS, CEA, Maison de la Simulation, Gif-sur-Yvette, France

    Pascal Tremblin

  5. Université Paris-Saclay, Université Paris Cité, CEA, CNRS, AIM, Gif-sur-Yvette, France

    Pascal Tremblin

  6. European Space Agency, European Space Astronomy Centre, 28692 Villanueva de la Canada, Madrid, Spain

    Catarina Alves de Oliveira,Stephan M. Birkmann&Pierre Ferruit

  7. Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Tracy L. Beck,Néstor Espinoza,Amélie Gressier&Jeff A. Valenti

  8. Department of Astronomy and Carl Sagan Institute, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA

    Ryan C. Challener&Nikole K. Lewis

  9. Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, P.O. Box 9513, Leiden, The Netherlands

    Nicolas Crouzet

  10. ATG Europe for the European Space Agency, ESTEC, Noordwijk, The Netherlands

    Giovanna Giardino

  11. Center for Space and Habitability, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland

    Elspeth K. H. Lee

  12. University of Cambridge, The Old Schools, Trinity Ln, Cambridge, UK

    Roberto Maiolino

  13. AURA for the European Space Agency (ESA), ESA Office, Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Elena Manjavacas

  14. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA

    Bernard J. Rauscher

  15. European Space Agency (ESA), ESA Office, Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Marco Sirianni

Authors

  1. David K. Sing

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  2. Zafar Rustamkulov

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  3. Daniel P. Thorngren

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  4. Joanna K. Barstow

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  5. Pascal Tremblin

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  6. Catarina Alves de Oliveira

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  7. Tracy L. Beck

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  8. Stephan M. Birkmann

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  9. Ryan C. Challener

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  10. Nicolas Crouzet

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  11. Néstor Espinoza

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  12. Pierre Ferruit

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  13. Giovanna Giardino

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  14. Amélie Gressier

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  15. Elspeth K. H. Lee

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  16. Nikole K. Lewis

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  17. Roberto Maiolino

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  18. Elena Manjavacas

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  19. Bernard J. Rauscher

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  20. Marco Sirianni

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  21. Jeff A. Valenti

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Corresponding author

Correspondence to David K. Sing.

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A warm Neptune’s methane reveals core mass and vigorous atmospheric mixing (4)

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Sing, D.K., Rustamkulov, Z., Thorngren, D.P. et al. A warm Neptune’s methane reveals core mass and vigorous atmospheric mixing. Nature (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07395-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07395-z

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A warm Neptune’s methane reveals core mass and vigorous atmospheric mixing (2024)
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