Dr. Apurva Oza (JPL): Volcanic Exomoons Hidden in Plain Sight

The evaporation and disintegration of rocky exomoons are expected to leave significant ultraviolet, optical, infrared and/or radio signatures in the exospheres and magnetospheres of their host exoplanet. We present ongoing observations and analyses of a population of candidate exomoon systems whose sodium and potassium fluxes (temporally and spectrally) continue to suggest the presence of haze from a third body. Atmospheric sputtering from an exomoon (an efficient space weathering process at volcanic Io and the icy Galilean satellite surfaces) is simulated by exomoon search softwares dishoom & prometheus, for gas giant exospheres. Powerful thermal and gravitational tidal venting from a close-in transiting exomoon coupled to an exoplanet magnetosphere is shown to readily source tenuous exorings and plasma tori at relative fluxes routinely observed at gas giant exoplanets. Explosive, spectral tracers of active exomoons are therefore expected to be visible upon analysis in the optical/IR by spectrographs onboard HST and JWST.