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New Constraints on Titan’s Stratospheric n-Butane Abundance

The Planetary Science Journal American Astronomical Society 3:3 (2022) 59-59

Authors:

Brendan L Steffens, Conor A Nixon, Keeyoon Sung, Patrick GJ Irwin, Nicholas A Lombardo, Eric Pereira

Abstract:

Abstract Curiously, n-butane has yet to be detected at Titan, though it is predicted to be present in a wide range of abundances that span over 2.5 orders of magnitude. We have searched infrared spectroscopic observations of Titan for signals from n-butane (n-C4H10) in Titan’s stratosphere. Three sets of Cassini Composite Infrared Spectrometer Focal Plane 4 (1050–1500 cm−1) observations were selected for modeling, having been collected from different flybys and pointing latitudes. We modeled the observations with the Nonlinear Optimal Estimator for MultivariatE Spectral AnalySIS radiative transfer tool. Temperature profiles were retrieved for each of the data sets by modeling the ν 4 emission from methane near 1305 cm−1. Then, incorporating the temperature profiles, we retrieved abundances of all of Titan’s known trace gases that are active in this spectral region, reliably reproducing the observations. We then systematically tested a set of models with varying abundances of n-butane, investigating how the addition of this gas affected the fits. We did this for several different photochemically predicted abundance profiles from the literature, as well as for a constant-with-altitude profile. Ultimately, though we did not produce any firm detection of n-butane, we derived new upper limits on its abundance specific to the use of each profile and to multiple different ranges of stratospheric altitudes. These results will tightly constrain the C4 chemistry of future photochemical modeling of Titan’s atmosphere and also motivate the continued search for n-butane and its isomer, isobutane.
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TESS Giants Transiting Giants. II. The Hottest Jupiters Orbiting Evolved Stars

The Astronomical Journal American Astronomical Society 163:3 (2022) 120

Authors:

Samuel K Grunblatt, Nicholas Saunders, Meng Sun, Ashley Chontos, Melinda Soares-Furtado, Nora Eisner, Filipe Pereira, Thaddeus Komacek, Daniel Huber, Karen Collins, Gavin Wang, Chris Stockdale, Samuel N Quinn, Rene Tronsgaard, George Zhou, Grzegorz Nowak, Hans J Deeg, David R Ciardi, Andrew Boyle, Malena Rice, Fei Dai, Sarah Blunt, Judah Van Zandt, Corey Beard, Joseph M Akana Murphy, Paul A Dalba, Jack Lubin, Alex Polanski, Casey Lynn Brinkman, Andrew W Howard, Lars A Buchhave, Ruth Angus, George R Ricker, Jon M Jenkins, Bill Wohler, Robert F Goeke, Alan M Levine, Knicole D Colon, Chelsea X Huang, Michelle Kunimoto, Avi Shporer, David W Latham, Sara Seager, Roland K Vanderspek, Joshua N Winn
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Black Mirror: The impact of rotational broadening on the search for reflected light from 51 Pegasi b with high resolution spectroscopy

Astronomy & Astrophysics EDP Sciences 659 (2022) a121

Authors:

EF Spring, JL Birkby, L Pino, R Alonso, S Hoyer, ME Young, PRT Coelho, D Nespral, M López-Morales
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No Umbrella Needed: Confronting the Hypothesis of Iron Rain on WASP-76b with Post-processed General Circulation Models

The Astrophysical Journal American Astronomical Society 926:1 (2022) 85

Authors:

Arjun B Savel, Eliza M-R Kempton, Matej Malik, Thaddeus D Komacek, Jacob L Bean, Erin M May, Kevin B Stevenson, Megan Mansfield, Emily Rauscher
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Toward a multidimensional analysis of transmission spectroscopy

Astronomy & Astrophysics EDP Sciences 658 (2022) a42

Authors:

William Pluriel, Jérémy Leconte, Vivien Parmentier, Tiziano Zingales, Aurélien Falco, Franck Selsis, Pascal Bordé
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