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  3. A Stellar magnesium to silicon ratio in the atmosphere of an exoplanet.
 

A Stellar magnesium to silicon ratio in the atmosphere of an exoplanet.

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BORIS DOI
10.48620/94871
Publisher DOI
10.1038/s41467-026-69610-x
PubMed ID
41708629
Description
The elemental compositions of exoplanets encode information about their formation environments and internal structures. While volatile ratios such as carbon-to-oxygen (C/O) are used to trace formation location, the rock-forming elements-magnesium (Mg), silicon (Si), and iron (Fe)-govern interior mineralogy and are commonly assumed to reflect the host star's abundances. Yet this assumption remains largely untested. Ultra-hot Jupiters, gas-giant exoplanets with dayside temperatures above 3000 K, provide rare access to refractory elements that remain gaseous. Here we present high-resolution thermal emission spectroscopy of the exoplanet WASP-189b (Teq K) obtained with the Immersion Grating Infrared Spectrometer (IGRINS) on Gemini South. We detect neutral iron (Fe I), magnesium (Mg I), silicon (Si I), water (H2O), carbon monoxide (CO), and hydroxyl (OH) at signal-to-noise ratios exceeding 4, and retrieve their elemental abundances. We show that the Mg/Si, Fe/Mg, and Si/Fe ratios are consistent with stellar values, while the refractory-to-volatile ratio is enhanced by roughly a factor of 2. These findings demonstrate that giant-planet atmospheres can preserve stellar-like rock-forming ratios, providing an empirical validation of the stellar-proxy assumption that underpins planetary composition and formation models across exoplanet systems.
Date of Publication
2026-02-18
Publication Type
Article
Subject(s)
500 Science > 530 Physics
500 Science > 520 Astronomy
Language(s)
en
Contributor(s)
Sanchez, Jorge A
Smith, Peter C B
Kanumalla, Krishna
Welbanks, Luis
Line, Michael R
Pelletier, Stefan
Desch, Steven
Young, Patrick
Patience, Jennifer
Bean, Jacob
Brogi, Matteo
Jaffe, Dan
Mace, Gregory N
Mansfield, Megan Weiner
Panwar, Vatsal
Parmentier, Vivien
Pino, Lorenzo
Savel, Arjun Baliga
Sluijs, Lennart van
Wardenier, Joost P.
Physics Institute, Space Research and Planetary Sciences
Additional Credits
Physics Institute, Space Research and Planetary Sciences
Series
Nature Communications
Publisher
Nature Research
ISSN
2041-1723
Access(Rights)
open.access
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