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ABSTRACT

We present a JWST Near-InfraRed Spectrograph (NIRSpec) transmission spectrum of the super-Earth exoplanet L 98-59 c. This small (R p = 1.385 ± 0.085R ⊕, M p = 2.22 ± 0.26 R ⊕), warm (T eq = 553 K) planet resides in a multiplanet system around a nearby, bright (J = 7.933) M3V star. We find that the transmission spectrum of L 98-59 c is featureless at the precision of our data. We achieve precisions of 22 ppm in NIRSpec G395H’s NRS1 detector and 36 ppm in the NRS2 detector at a resolution R ∼ 200 (30 pixel wide bins). At this level of precision, we are able rule out primordial H2–He atmospheres across a range of cloud pressure levels up to at least ∼0.1 mbar. By comparison to atmospheric forward models, we also rule out atmospheric metallicities below ∼300× solar at 3σ (or, equivalently, atmospheric mean molecular weights below ∼10 g mol−1). We also rule out pure methane atmospheres. The remaining scenarios that are compatible with our data include a planet with no atmosphere at all, or higher-mean-molecular-weight atmospheres, such as CO2- or H2O-rich atmospheres. This study adds to a growing body of evidence suggesting that planets ≲1.5 R ⊕ lack extended atmospheres.

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