Atacama Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope (AtLAST) science: Planetary and cometary atmospheres

Cordiner, Martin, Thelen, Alexander, Cavalie, Thibault, Cosentino, Richard, Fletcher, Leigh N., Gurwell, Mark, de Kleer, Katherine, Kuan, Yi-Jehng, Lellouch, Emmanuel, Moullet, Arielle, Nixon, Conor, de Pater, Imke, Teanby, Nicholas, Butler, Bryan, Charnley, Steven, Milam, Stefanie, Moreno, Raphael, Booth, Mark, Klaassen, Pamela, Cicone, Claudia, Mroczkowski, Tony, Di Mascolo, Luca, Johnstone, Doug, van Kampen, Eelco, Lee, Minju, Liu, Daizhong, Maccarone, Thomas, Saintonge, Amelie, Smith, Matthew ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3532-6970 and Wedemeyer, Sven 2024. Atacama Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope (AtLAST) science: Planetary and cometary atmospheres. Open Research Europe 4 , 78. 10.12688/openreseurope.17473.1

PDF - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (5MB)

Abstract

The study of planets and small bodies within our Solar System is fundamental for understanding the formation and evolution of the Earth and other planets. Compositional and meteorological studies of the giant planets provide a foundation for understanding the nature of the most commonly observed exoplanets, while spectroscopic observations of the atmospheres of terrestrial planets, moons, and comets provide insights into the past and present-day habitability of planetary environments, and the availability of the chemical ingredients for life. While prior and existing (sub)millimeter observations have led to major advances in these areas, progress is hindered by limitations in the dynamic range, spatial and temporal coverage, as well as sensitivity of existing telescopes and interferometers. Here, we summarize some of the key planetary science use cases that factor into the design of the Atacama Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope (AtLAST), a proposed 50-m class single dish facility: (1) to more fully characterize planetary wind fields and atmospheric thermal structures, (2) to measure the compositions of icy moon atmospheres and plumes, (3) to obtain detections of new, astrobiologically relevant gases and perform isotopic surveys of comets, and (4) to perform synergistic, temporally-resolved measurements in support of dedicated interplanetary space missions. The improved spatial coverage (several arcminutes), resolution (~ 1.2′′ − 12′′), bandwidth (several tens of GHz), dynamic range (~ 105) and sensitivity (~ 1 mK km s−1) required by these science cases would enable new insights into the chemistry and physics of planetary environments, the origins of prebiotic molecules and the habitability of planetary systems in general.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Published Online
Status:	Published
Schools:	Physics and Astronomy
Publisher:	Taylor and Francis
ISSN:	2732-5121
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	14 October 2024
Last Modified:	14 Oct 2024 10:45
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/171876

Actions (repository staff only)

Edit Item