Erik Meier Valdés @erikmeier.bsky.social · 13/07/2023Huge thanks to the CHEOPS team involved, as well as collaborators who contributed to this work. Personally I enjoyed crafting this paper and hope you enjoy the reading. 000
Erik Meier Valdés @erikmeier.bsky.social · 13/07/2023CHEOPS high precision observations put a valuable piece in this puzzle called 55 Cancri e! 000
Erik Meier Valdés @erikmeier.bsky.social · 13/07/2023Recent JWST observations from accepted cycle 1 proposals might shed light into species present in this fascinating exoplanet. 010
Erik Meier Valdés @erikmeier.bsky.social · 13/07/2023However, quartz, silicon carbide and graphite do survive for hours in the circumstellar environment. But how would they escape a planet with an escape velocity of 24 km/s? 🤔 001
Erik Meier Valdés @erikmeier.bsky.social · 13/07/2023What was the outcome? Dust made of pyroxenes and olivines, predominant in Earth-like mantles, sublimate in mere seconds. A torus cannot be composed of these material and cause the phase curve variability! 010
Erik Meier Valdés @erikmeier.bsky.social · 13/07/2023Considering different silicates and species expected in an Earth-like mantle, we estimated the sublimation timescale for a range of grain sizes compatible with past optical and IR observations. 000
Erik Meier Valdés @erikmeier.bsky.social · 13/07/2023An inhomogeneous circumstellar torus of dust has been a plausible hypothesis in past research over the years, but for the first time we dug deep into the matter. 000
Erik Meier Valdés @erikmeier.bsky.social · 13/07/2023We had to step into the shoes of Sherlock Holmes and find the culprit. Is it stellar activity? Volcanic activity due to the extreme temperatures? Magnetic star-planet interaction? Presence of inhomogeneous material in the circumstellar environment? 000
Erik Meier Valdés @erikmeier.bsky.social · 13/07/2023The conclusions after roughly 800 hours of observations: The phase curve amplitude and peak vary in time, even from one visit to the next. What is causing the variability on this iconic super-Earth? 000
Erik Meier Valdés @erikmeier.bsky.social · 13/07/202355 Cancri e has eluded explanations since it was discovered. We know its mass and radius, but its atmosphere (or lack thereof) is a total mystery. What if we observed 29 full phase curves with CHEOPS to try to dig deeper? Well, we did! arxiv.org/abs/2307.06085 1081
