Atmospheric Chemistry of Venus-like Exoplanets

TL;DR

This paper models the atmospheric chemistry of Venus-like exoplanets using thermodynamic calculations to predict observable gases, surface conditions, and mineralogy, aiding future observational planning.

Contribution

It introduces thermodynamic modeling of Venus-like exoplanet atmospheres to constrain gas compositions, surface conditions, and mineralogy for observational strategies.

Findings

Constraints on spectroscopically observable gases

Predicted surface temperature and pressure ranges

Implications for mineralogy of Venus-like exoplanets

Abstract

We use thermodynamic calculations to model atmospheric chemistry on terrestrial exoplanets that are hot enough for chemical equilibira between the atmosphere and lithosphere, as on Venus. The results of our calculations place constraints on abundances of spectroscopically observable gases, the surface temperature and pressure, and the mineralogy of the surface. These results will be useful in planning future observations of the atmospheres of terrestrial-sized exoplanets by current and proposed space observatories such as the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), Spitzer, James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), Terrestrial Planet Finder, and Darwin.