Hot Rocks Survey V: Secondary Eclipse Photometry of GJ 3473 b with JWST/MIRI

TL;DR

This study presents JWST/MIRI secondary eclipse observations of GJ 3473 b, exploring its atmospheric and surface properties, and highlights the challenges in interpreting such data for rocky exoplanets.

Contribution

First JWST secondary eclipse data of GJ 3473 b, providing insights into its surface and atmospheric characteristics, and analyzing data reduction effects and degeneracies.

Findings

Detected eclipse depth of 186±45 ppm, lower than blackbody expectation.

Excluded thick CO₂ atmospheres above 1.2-6.5 bar surface pressure.

Observed tentative variability in eclipse depth across visits.

Abstract

JWST is transforming our ability to characterise small exoplanets, from sub-Neptunes to rocky worlds. A key open question is whether highly irradiated rocky planets can retain atmospheres or are stripped bare by stellar irradiation -- a boundary that remains to be mapped observationally. Here we present the first JWST secondary eclipse observations of the rocky exoplanet GJ 3473 b, obtained with MIRI F1500W photometry. Using four visits, we confidently detect the eclipse at an average depth of 186$\pm$45 ppm, somewhat lower than expected for a blackbody. We test a wide range of data reduction and analysis assumptions and provide new insights into MIRI detector settling behaviour that will benefit future observations. We model a suite of airless surfaces with varied compositions, textures, and degrees of space weathering, as well as idealised atmospheric scenarios including the possibility of atmospheric collapse. Both atmospheric and bare-rock interpretations remain consistent with the data, but we exclude thick CO$_2$ atmospheres, placing a 95 % credible upper limit of 1.2-6.5 bar on the surface pressure. We also find tentative evidence for visit-to-visit variability in eclipse depth (33-371 ppm), though additional data are required to confirm this. Our results highlight the challenges and intrinsic degeneracies in interpreting MIRI F1500W eclipse measurements of rocky exoplanets, indicating that such observations alone may not uniquely distinguish between bare-rock and atmospheric scenarios. Future spectroscopic or phase-curve observations will be required to determine whether or not GJ 3473 b hosts a substantial atmosphere