Observation of undepleted phosphine in the atmosphere of a low-temperature brown dwarf

Adam J. Burgasser; Eileen C. Gonzales; Samuel A. Beiler; Channon Visscher; Ben Burningham; Gregory N. Mace; Jacqueline K. Faherty; Zenghua Zhang; Clara Sousa-Silva; Nicolas Lodieu; Stanimir A. Metchev; Aaron Meisner; Michael Cushing; Adam C. Schneider; Genaro Suarez; Chih-Chun Hsu; Roman Gerasimov; Christian Aganze; Christopher A. Theissen

doi:10.1126/science.adu0401

Observation of undepleted phosphine in the atmosphere of a low-temperature brown dwarf

Adam J. Burgasser, Eileen C. Gonzales, Samuel A. Beiler, Channon Visscher, Ben Burningham, Gregory N. Mace, Jacqueline K. Faherty, Zenghua Zhang, Clara Sousa-Silva, Nicolas Lodieu, Stanimir A. Metchev, Aaron Meisner, Michael Cushing, Adam C. Schneider, Genaro Suarez, Chih-Chun Hsu, Roman Gerasimov, Christian Aganze, Christopher A. Theissen

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Abstract

The atmospheres of low-temperature brown dwarfs and gas giant planets are expected to contain the phosphine molecule, PH$_3$ However, previous observations have shown much lower abundances of this molecule than predicted by 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 are detected around 4.3 ${\mu}$m, from which we calculate a phosphine abundance of 0.100$\pm$0.009 parts per million. This abundance is consistent with disequilibrium atmospheric chemistry models that reproduce the phosphine abundances in Jupiter and Saturn, and is much higher than abundances previously reported for other brown dwarfs or exoplanets.

Original language	English
Journal	Science,
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adu0401
Publication status	Published - 2 Oct 2025

Keywords

astro-ph.SR
astro-ph.EP

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10.1126/science.adu0401

2510.03916v1Accepted author manuscript, 7.96 MBLicence: CC BY

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Burgasser, A. J., Gonzales, E. C., Beiler, S. A., Visscher, C., Burningham, B., Mace, G. N., Faherty, J. K., Zhang, Z., Sousa-Silva, C., Lodieu, N., Metchev, S. A., Meisner, A., Cushing, M., Schneider, A. C., Suarez, G., Hsu, C.-C., Gerasimov, R., Aganze, C., & Theissen, C. A. (2025). Observation of undepleted phosphine in the atmosphere of a low-temperature brown dwarf. Science,. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adu0401

@article{e4c7d7c1a3224b0cb61e42e26b0ea50d,

title = "Observation of undepleted phosphine in the atmosphere of a low-temperature brown dwarf",

abstract = " The atmospheres of low-temperature brown dwarfs and gas giant planets are expected to contain the phosphine molecule, PH\$\_3\$ However, previous observations have shown much lower abundances of this molecule than predicted by 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 are detected around 4.3 \$\{\textbackslash{}mu\}\$m, from which we calculate a phosphine abundance of 0.100\$\textbackslash{}pm\$0.009 parts per million. This abundance is consistent with disequilibrium atmospheric chemistry models that reproduce the phosphine abundances in Jupiter and Saturn, and is much higher than abundances previously reported for other brown dwarfs or exoplanets. ",

keywords = "astro-ph.SR, astro-ph.EP",

author = "Burgasser, \{Adam J.\} and Gonzales, \{Eileen C.\} and Beiler, \{Samuel A.\} and Channon Visscher and Ben Burningham and Mace, \{Gregory N.\} and Faherty, \{Jacqueline K.\} and Zenghua Zhang and Clara Sousa-Silva and Nicolas Lodieu and Metchev, \{Stanimir A.\} and Aaron Meisner and Michael Cushing and Schneider, \{Adam C.\} and Genaro Suarez and Chih-Chun Hsu and Roman Gerasimov and Christian Aganze and Theissen, \{Christopher A.\}",

note = "33 pages, 10 figures; accepted for publication in Science. This is the authors' version of the work. It is posted here by permission of the AAAS for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Science on 2 October 2025, DOI: 10.1126/science.adu0401 (https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adu0401)",

year = "2025",

month = oct,

day = "2",

doi = "10.1126/science.adu0401",

language = "English",

journal = "Science,",

issn = "0036-8075",

publisher = "American Association for the Advancement of Science",

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Burgasser, AJ, Gonzales, EC, Beiler, SA, Visscher, C, Burningham, B, Mace, GN, Faherty, JK, Zhang, Z, Sousa-Silva, C, Lodieu, N, Metchev, SA, Meisner, A, Cushing, M, Schneider, AC, Suarez, G, Hsu, C-C, Gerasimov, R, Aganze, C & Theissen, CA 2025, 'Observation of undepleted phosphine in the atmosphere of a low-temperature brown dwarf', Science,. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adu0401

TY - JOUR

T1 - Observation of undepleted phosphine in the atmosphere of a low-temperature brown dwarf

AU - Burgasser, Adam J.

AU - Gonzales, Eileen C.

AU - Beiler, Samuel A.

AU - Visscher, Channon

AU - Burningham, Ben

AU - Mace, Gregory N.

AU - Faherty, Jacqueline K.

AU - Zhang, Zenghua

AU - Sousa-Silva, Clara

AU - Lodieu, Nicolas

AU - Metchev, Stanimir A.

AU - Meisner, Aaron

AU - Cushing, Michael

AU - Schneider, Adam C.

AU - Suarez, Genaro

AU - Hsu, Chih-Chun

AU - Gerasimov, Roman

AU - Aganze, Christian

AU - Theissen, Christopher A.

N1 - 33 pages, 10 figures; accepted for publication in Science. This is the authors' version of the work. It is posted here by permission of the AAAS for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Science on 2 October 2025, DOI: 10.1126/science.adu0401 (https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adu0401)

PY - 2025/10/2

Y1 - 2025/10/2

N2 - The atmospheres of low-temperature brown dwarfs and gas giant planets are expected to contain the phosphine molecule, PH$_3$ However, previous observations have shown much lower abundances of this molecule than predicted by 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 are detected around 4.3 ${\mu}$m, from which we calculate a phosphine abundance of 0.100$\pm$0.009 parts per million. This abundance is consistent with disequilibrium atmospheric chemistry models that reproduce the phosphine abundances in Jupiter and Saturn, and is much higher than abundances previously reported for other brown dwarfs or exoplanets.

AB - The atmospheres of low-temperature brown dwarfs and gas giant planets are expected to contain the phosphine molecule, PH$_3$ However, previous observations have shown much lower abundances of this molecule than predicted by 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 are detected around 4.3 ${\mu}$m, from which we calculate a phosphine abundance of 0.100$\pm$0.009 parts per million. This abundance is consistent with disequilibrium atmospheric chemistry models that reproduce the phosphine abundances in Jupiter and Saturn, and is much higher than abundances previously reported for other brown dwarfs or exoplanets.

KW - astro-ph.SR

KW - astro-ph.EP

U2 - 10.1126/science.adu0401

DO - 10.1126/science.adu0401

M3 - Article

SN - 0036-8075

JO - Science,

JF - Science,

ER -

Observation of undepleted phosphine in the atmosphere of a low-temperature brown dwarf

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