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Can Jupiter's nightside be classified as spectral type Y?

Astronomy Asked by user24157 on December 28, 2021

As far as I am aware, the latest spectral types that have been assigned are around Y2, for objects like WISE 0855-0714 that have temperatures around 250 K or so. I’ve also seen several directly-imaged exoplanets have had their spectra classified as L- or T-type (e.g. Bonnefoy et al. 2016 who find that the giant planets HR 8799 d and e are good matches for L6–L8 dwarfs).

Jupiter is colder and less massive than the observed Y dwarfs and differs from isolated brown dwarfs because it is being illuminated by the Sun, but there is thermal emission which could be observed from the nightside of the planet. Has Jupiter’s nightside spectrum (i.e. the spectrum of Jupiter excluding contributions from reflected sunlight) been observed in sufficient detail to compare it to the spectra of Y dwarfs, and if so does it fit the trends observed in spectral type Y or is it so different that it cannot be spectrally classified as a Y dwarf?

For clarity: I am asking purely in terms of spectral classification, i.e. the classification of the spectrum. I am not asking about whether Jupiter is a brown dwarf making the Sun+Jupiter a binary system. That has been asked elsewhere.

One Answer

This Wikipedia page lists Jupiter as a disputed sub-brown dwarf because its mass reportedly is sufficient to qualify for one. Distance to another star like the Sun doesn't matter, nor does the visibility in the infrared spectrum either since every planet is emitting some infrared light. The fact that Jupiter emanates more energy than it gets from the Sun can't be accounted for either, since that's also a matter of distance from the Sun, and Saturn and Neptune do so too. But, as the article states, Jupiter obviously has enough mass to possibly count as a sub-brown dwarf. Sub-brown dwarfs are still planets because they don't undergo nuclear fusion unlike brown dwarfs and hydrogen-fusing stars and never did.

Edit: There is no reason to only classify the night side just because the day side is illuminated by a(nother) star. Spectral classifications are given to the entire object. Since sub-brown dwarfs reportedly have a mass of at least one Jupiter mass, you may want to classify Jupiter a Y9V sub-brown dwarf.

Answered by Ioannes on December 28, 2021

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