A Precise Metallicity and Carbon-to-Oxygen Ratio for a Warm Giant Exoplanet from its Panchromatic JWST Emission Spectrum

TL;DR

This study presents the first complete panchromatic emission spectrum of a cool gas giant exoplanet around a low-mass star, enabling detailed atmospheric composition analysis including metallicity and C/O ratio.

Contribution

It provides the first panchromatic emission spectrum of WASP-80 b, a cool gas giant around a late K/early M-dwarf, and estimates its atmospheric metallicity and C/O ratio.

Findings

Detected H$_2$O, CH$_4$, CO, CO$_2$ with high confidence

Tentative detection of NH$_3$

WASP-80 b's composition aligns with other hot gas giants

Abstract

WASP-80 b, a warm sub-Jovian (equilibrium temperature ~820 K, 0.5 Jupiter masses), presents an opportunity to characterize a rare gas giant exoplanet around a low-mass star. In addition, its moderate temperature enables its atmosphere to host a range of carbon and oxygen species (H$_2$O, CH$_4$, CO, CO$_2$, NH$_3$). In this paper, we present a panchromatic emission spectrum of WASP-80 b, the first gas giant around a late K/early M-dwarf star and the coolest planet for which the James Webb Space Telescope has obtained a complete emission spectrum spanning 2.4-12 $\mu$m, including NIRCam F322W2 (2.4-4 $\mu$m) and F444W (4-5 $\mu$m), and MIRI LRS (5-12 $\mu$m). We report confident detections of H$_2$O, CH$_4$, CO, and CO$_2$, and a tentative detection of NH$_3$. We estimate WASP-80 b's atmospheric metallicity and carbon-to-oxygen ratio and compare them with estimates for other gas giants. Despite the relative rarity of giant planets around low-mass stars, we find that WASP-80 b's composition is consistent with other hot gas giants, suggesting that the formation pathway of WASP-80 b may not be dissimilar from hot gas giants around higher-mass stars.