SO2, silicate clouds, but no CH4 detected in a warm Neptune

Abstract

WASP-107b is a warm (approximately 740 K) transiting planet with a Neptune-like mass of roughly 30.5 M_⊕ and Jupiter-like radius of about 0.94 R_J (refs. ^1,2), whose extended atmosphere is eroding³. Previous observations showed evidence for water vapour and a thick, high-altitude condensate layer in the atmosphere of WASP-107b (refs. ^4,5). Recently, photochemically produced sulfur dioxide (SO₂) was detected in the atmosphere of a hot (about 1,200 K) Saturn-mass planet from transmission spectroscopy near 4.05 μm (refs. ^6,7), but for temperatures below about 1,000 K, sulfur is predicted to preferably form sulfur allotropes instead of SO₂ (refs. ^8-10). Here we report the 9σ detection of two fundamental vibration bands of SO₂, at 7.35 μm and 8.69 μm, in the transmission spectrum of WASP-107b using the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) of JWST. This discovery establishes WASP-107b as the second irradiated exoplanet with confirmed photochemistry, extending the temperature range of exoplanets exhibiting detected photochemistry from about 1,200 K down to about 740 K. Furthermore, our spectral analysis reveals the presence of silicate clouds, which are strongly favoured (around 7σ) over simpler cloud set-ups. Furthermore, water is detected (around 12σ) but methane is not. These findings provide evidence of disequilibrium chemistry and indicate a dynamically active atmosphere with a super-solar metallicity.