Climate change in hell

Autor(en)
E. Gaidos, H. Parviainen, E. Esparza-Borges, A. Fukui, K. Isogai, K. Kawauchi, J. De Leon, M. Mori, F. Murgas, N. Narita, E. Palle, N. Watanabe
Abstrakt

Context. Rocky planets on ultra-short period orbits can have surface magma oceans and rock-vapour atmospheres in which dust can condense. Observations of that dust can inform us about the composition and surface conditions on these objects. Aims. We constrained the properties and long-term (decade) behaviour of the transiting dust cloud from the evaporating planet K2-22b. Methods.We observed K2-22b around 40 predicted transits with MuSCAT ground-based multi-optical channel imagers, and complemented these data with long-term monitoring by the ground-based ATLAS (2018-2024) and space-based TESS (2021-2023) surveys. Results. We detected signals during 7 transits, none of which showed significant wavelength dependence. The expected number of MuSCAT-detected transits is ≥22, indicating a decline in mean transit depth since the K2 discovery observations in 2014. Conclusions. The lack of a significant wavelength dependence indicates that dust grains are large or the cloud is optically thick. Long-term trends of depth could be due to a magnetic cycle on the host star or to overturn of the planet's dayside surface magma ocean. The possibility that K2-22b is disappearing altogether is ruled out by the stability of the transit ephemeris against non-gravitational forces, which constrains the mass to be at least comparable to Ceres.

Organisation(en)
Institut für Astrophysik
Externe Organisation(en)
University of Hawaii at Manoa, Universidad de La Laguna, Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), University of Tokyo, Kyoto University, Ritsumeikan University, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
Journal
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Band
688
Anzahl der Seiten
9
ISSN
0004-6361
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202451332
Publikationsdatum
08-2024
Peer-reviewed
Ja
ÖFOS 2012
103003 Astronomie, 103004 Astrophysik
Schlagwörter
ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete
Astronomy and Astrophysics, Space and Planetary Science
Sustainable Development Goals
SDG 13 – Maßnahmen zum Klimaschutz
Link zum Portal
https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/bb9ea3c9-a24e-4ee5-8b99-4f24479d84cf