The new James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) exploration era is growing volcanically heated. In the laboratory, a multidisciplinary group of Cornell researchers modeled and manufactured lava as the type of rock that may grow on distant exoplanets. They created 16 different surface compositions as a starting point for discovering volcanic planets with scorching landscapes and molten oceans. Their research, Volcanic Exoplanet Surfaces, was published in the forthcoming November 2022 edition of Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
We have synthesized compositions that are representative of possible exoplanet surfaces that combine star metallicity data, thermodynamic modeling, and laboratory experiments, said lead author Esteban Gazel, the Charles N. Mellowes Professor in Engineering in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences (EAS), in the College of Engineering, and he is also a member of Cornell's interdisciplinary Carl Sagan Institute (CSI).
According to co-author Lisa Kaltenegger, CSI director and associate professor of astronomy in the College of Arts and Sciences, JWST's new studies of lava worlds are revealing the mysteries of what kinds of locations exist on our cosmic shore. Our library of volcanic exoplanet surfaces is a useful tool for determining what makes up these worlds.
Marc-Antoine Fortin, a former associate in the study groups of Gazel and Kaltenegger, constructed and tested probable physical exoplanet surfaces using earlier models of what makes up planets surrounding known host stars.
As Earth and planetary scientists, we are hunting for clues to early planetary evolution, according to Fortin. We have some natural relics of very old rocks here on Earth that tell us about our own planet billions of years ago. Because Earth was once lava, these lava planets act as a time machine. However, with exoplanets, at least those containing magma, we may view planets in various phases of development. Exoplanet configuration can be deduced from lava worlds. We're looking at exoplanets in different cosmic regions, learning everything we can about these faraway worlds that we won't be able to visit in our lives.
According to Gazel, with the successful launch of the Webb telescope and promising early retrievals of data and pictures, science now has a better opportunity than ever before to investigate exoplanets in greater depth. Our early database provides a useful tool for understanding the chemical composition of volcanic exoplanets whose chemical composition is not well represented by solar system analogs.
Megan Holycross, an assistant professor at EAS, is working on the topic alongside Fortin, Gazel, and Kaltenegger. Fortin and Gazel assembled the library by selecting the makeup of probable rocky planet mantles indicative of planets that may form around various stars. They then used thermodynamic modeling to calculate surface compositions at various melting points. The team worked with Holycross to make synthetic lava in laboratory furnaces that matched these ratios, then cooled it to simulate probable planetary surfaces.
Following that, Fortin used the new spectroscopic equipment in Gazel's lab to measure the probable infrared reflection spectrum. He related their chemical makeup to the Christiansen feature, a strong spectral characteristic discovered at approximately 8 micrometers that coincides with silica concentration and other important chemical components.
According to Fortin, there is a wider picture at work; we are attempting to comprehend not only exoplanets, but all rocky worlds, including our own.
Journal Information: Marc-Antoine Fortin et al, Volcanic Exoplanet Surfaces, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (2022). DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stac2198