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Title:
Helium in the eroding atmosphere of an exoplanet
Authors:
Spake, J. J.; Sing, D. K.; Evans, T. M.; Oklopčić, A.; Bourrier, V.; Kreidberg, L.; Rackham, B. V.; Irwin, J.; Ehrenreich, D.; Wyttenbach, A.; Wakeford, H. R.; Zhou, Y.; Chubb, K. L.; Nikolov, N.; Goyal, J. M.; Henry, G. W.; Williamson, M. H.; Blumenthal, S.; Anderson, D. R.; Hellier, C.; Charbonneau, D.; Udry, S.; Madhusudhan, N.
Affiliation:
AA(Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK), AB(Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK; Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA), AC(Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK), AD(Institute for Theory and Computation, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA, USA), AE(Observatoire de l'Université de Genève, 51 chemin des Maillettes, Versoix, Switzerland), AF(Harvard Society of Fellows, Cambridge, MA, USA; Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA, USA), AG(Department of Astronomy/Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA), AH(Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA, USA), AI(Observatoire de l'Université de Genève, 51 chemin des Maillettes, Versoix, Switzerland), AJ(Observatoire de l'Université de Genève, 51 chemin des Maillettes, Versoix, Switzerland), AK(Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD, USA), AL(Department of Astronomy/Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA), AM(Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London, London, UK), AN(Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK), AO(Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK), AP(Center of Excellence in Information Systems, Tennessee State University, Nashville, TN, USA), AQ(Center of Excellence in Information Systems, Tennessee State University, Nashville, TN, USA), AR(Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK), AS(Astrophysics Group, Keele University, Keele, UK), AT(Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK), AU(Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA, USA), AV(Observatoire de l'Université de Genève, 51 chemin des Maillettes, Versoix, Switzerland), AW(Astrophysics Group, Keele University, Keele, UK)
Publication:
Nature, Volume 557, Issue 7703, p.68-70 (Nature Homepage)
Publication Date:
05/2018
Origin:
NATURE
Abstract Copyright:
2018: Macmillan Publishers Ltd., part of Springer Nature
DOI:
10.1038/s41586-018-0067-5
Bibliographic Code:
2018Natur.557...68S

Abstract

Helium is the second-most abundant element in the Universe after hydrogen and is one of the main constituents of gas-giant planets in our Solar System. Early theoretical models predicted helium to be among the most readily detectable species in the atmospheres of exoplanets, especially in extended and escaping atmospheres1. Searches for helium, however, have hitherto been unsuccessful2. Here we report observations of helium on an exoplanet, at a confidence level of 4.5 standard deviations. We measured the near-infrared transmission spectrum of the warm gas giant3 WASP-107b and identified the narrow absorption feature of excited metastable helium at 10,833 angstroms. The amplitude of the feature, in transit depth, is 0.049 ± 0.011 per cent in a bandpass of 98 angstroms, which is more than five times greater than what could be caused by nominal stellar chromospheric activity. This large absorption signal suggests that WASP-107b has an extended atmosphere that is eroding at a total rate of 1010 to 3 × 1011 grams per second (0.1-4 per cent of its total mass per billion years), and may have a comet-like tail of gas shaped by radiation pressure.
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