Observation of undepleted phosphine in the atmosphere of a low-temperature brown dwarf
The atmospheres of low-temperature brown dwarfs and gas giant planets are expected to contain the phosphine molecule, PH<sub>3</sub>. However, previous observations have shown much lower abundances of this molecule than predicted with atmospheric chemistry models. We report JWST spectroscopic observations of phosphine in the atmosphere of the brown dwarf Wolf 1130C. Multiple absorption lines due to phosphine have been detected around 4.3 micrometers, from which we calculated a phosphine abundance of 0.100 ± 0.009 parts per million. This abundance is consistent with disequilibrium atmospheric chemistry models that reproduced the phosphine abundances in Jupiter and Saturn and is much higher than abundances previously reported for other brown dwarfs or exoplanets. This difference may be related to the low abundance of elements heavier than helium in Wolf 1130C.
Authors
- Z. H. Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3047-607X)
- Adam C. Schneider (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6294-5937)
- Gregory N. Mace (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7875-6391)
- Jacqueline K. Faherty (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6251-0573)
- Clara Sousa‐Silva (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7853-6871)
- Adam J. Burgasser (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6523-9536)
- Channon Visscher (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6627-6067)
- Stanimir Metchev (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3050-8203)
- Samuel A. Beiler (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6721-1844)
- Ben Burningham (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4600-5627)
- Christopher A. Theissen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9807-5435)
- Genaro Suárez (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2011-4924)
- Chih-Chun Hsu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5370-7494)
- Michael C. Cushing (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7780-3352)
- Aaron Meisner (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1125-7384)
- Eileen C. Gonzales (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4636-6676)
- Christian Aganze (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2094-9128)
- N. Lodieu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3612-8968)
- Roman Gerasimov (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0398-639X)
Institutions
- University of Notre Dame (US)
- Northwestern University (US)
- Western University (CA)
- Space Science Institute (US)
- American Museum of Natural History (US)
- University of Hertfordshire (GB)
- Dordt University (US)
- Universidad de La Laguna (ES)
- University of California San Diego (US)
- Bard College (US)
- Institute of Astrophysics and Space Sciences (PT)
- Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology (US)
- Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (ES)
- NSF NOIRLab (US)
- United States Naval Observatory (US)
- San Francisco State University (US)
- The University of Texas at Austin (US)
- Nanjing University (CN)
- University of Toledo (US)
- Stanford University (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Science
- Published
- 2025-10-02
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adu0401
- Citations
- 4
- Primary Topic
- Astro and Planetary Science
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 4.62