Jupiter and Saturn as Spectral Analogs for Extrasolar Gas Giants and Brown Dwarfs

TL;DR

This paper provides empirical spectra of Jupiter and Saturn to serve as ground truth for interpreting direct imaging spectra of exoplanets and brown dwarfs, accounting for variability and ring effects.

Contribution

It offers disk-integrated spectra of Jupiter and Saturn, along with end member spectra, to improve the analysis of exoplanet and brown dwarf observations.

Findings

Disk-integrated spectra cover a wide phase range.

End member spectra help interpret spectral variability.

Saturn's rings significantly influence spectral signatures.

Abstract

With the advent of direct imaging spectroscopy, the number of spectra from brown dwarfs and extrasolar gas giants is growing rapidly. Many brown dwarfs and extrasolar gas giants exhibit spectroscopic and photometric variability, which is likely the result of weather patterns. However, for the foreseeable future, point-source observations will be the only viable method to extract brown dwarf and exoplanet spectra. Models have been able to reproduce the observed variability, but ground truth observations are required to verify their results. To that end, we provide visual and near-infrared spectra of Jupiter and Saturn obtained from the \emph{Cassini} VIMS instrument. We disk-integrate the VIMS spectral cubes to simulate the spectra of Jupiter and Saturn as if they were directly imaged exoplanets or brown dwarfs. We present six empirical disk-integrated spectra for both Jupiter and Saturn with phase coverage of $1.7^\circ$ to $133.5^\circ$ and $39.6^\circ$ to $110.2^\circ$, respectively. To understand the constituents of these disk-integrated spectra, we also provide end member (single feature) spectra for permutations of illumination and cloud density, as well as for Saturn's rings. In tandem, these disk-integrated and end member spectra provide the ground truth needed to analyze point source spectra from extrasolar gas giants and brown dwarfs. Lastly, we discuss the impact that icy rings, such as Saturn's, have on disk-integrated spectra and consider the feasibility of inferring the presence of rings from direct imaging spectra.