Journal
SCIENCE
Volume 356, Issue 6338, Pages 628-+Publisher
AMER ASSOC ADVANCEMENT SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1126/science.aah4668
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Funding
- NASA [NAS 5-26555]
- NASA from the StSci [HST-GO-14260]
- European Research Council under the European Union [336192, 313014, 247060 PEPS]
- [GO-14110]
- [GO-14260]
- [90092]
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A correlation between giant-planet mass and atmospheric heavy elemental abundance was first noted in the past century from observations of planets in our own Solar System and has served as a cornerstone of planet-formation theory. Using data from the Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescopes from 0.5 to 5 micrometers, we conducted a detailed atmospheric study of the transiting Neptune-mass exoplanet HAT-P-26b. We detected prominent H2O absorption bands with a maximum base-to-peak amplitude of 525 parts per million in the transmission spectrum. Using the water abundance as a proxy for metallicity, we measured HAT-P-26b's atmospheric heavy element content (4.8(-4.0)(+21.5) times solar). This likely indicates that HAT-P-26b's atmosphere is primordial and obtained its gaseous envelope late in its disk lifetime, with little contamination from metal-rich planetesimals.
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