Reading Between the Lines: Investigating the Ability of JWST to Identify Discerning Features in exoEarth and exoVenus Transmission Spectra

TL;DR

This study evaluates JWST's ability to distinguish between exoEarth and exoVenus transmission spectra, focusing on detecting specific atmospheric features like methane and sulfur dioxide to identify planetary types.

Contribution

It models and simulates JWST observations of exoEarths and exoVenuses, identifying key spectral features that can differentiate these planets.

Findings

Methane features can be detected in as few as 6 transits.

The 3.4 μm methane feature effectively distinguishes exoEarths.

The 4.0 μm SO₂ feature indicates exoVenus atmospheres with lower CO₂.

Abstract

The success of the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission has led to the discovery of an abundance of Venus Zone (VZ) terrestrial planets that orbit relatively bright host stars. Atmospheric observations of these planets play a crucial role in understanding the evolutionary history of terrestrial planets, past habitable states, and the divergence of Venus and Earth climates. The transmission spectrum of a Venus-like exoplanet can be difficult to distinguish from that of an Earth-like exoplanet however, which could severely limit what can be learned from studying exoVenuses. In this work we further investigate differences in transmission between hypothetical exoEarths and exoVenuses, both with varying amounts of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO$_2$). The exoEarths and exoVenuses were modelled assuming they orbit TRAPPIST-1 on the runaway greenhouse boundary. We simulated James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) PRISM transit observations of both sets of planets between 0.6-5.2 $\mu$m, and quantified the detectability of major absorption features in their transmission spectra. The exoEarth spectra include several large methane (CH$_4$) features that can be detected in as few as 6 transits. The CH$_4$ feature at 3.4 $\mu$m is the optimal for feature for discerning an exoEarth from an exoVenus since it is easily detectable and does not overlap with CO$_2$ features. The sulfur dioxide (SO$_2$) feature at 4.0 $\mu$m is the best indicator of an exoVenus, but it is detectable in atmospheres with reduced CO$_2$ abundance.