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The carbon-to-oxygen ratio (C/O) in a planet provides critical informationabout its primordial origins and subsequent evolution. A primordial C/O greaterthan 0.8 causes a carbide-dominated interior as opposed to a silicate-dominatedcomposition as found on Earth, and the atmospheres can also differ from thosein the Solar System. The solar C/O is 0.54. Here we report an analysis ofdayside multi-wavelength photometry of the transiting hot-Jupiter WASP-12b thatreveals C/O >= 1 in its atmosphere. The atmosphere is abundant in CO. It isdepleted in water vapor and enhanced in methane by over two orders of magnitudeeach compared to a solar-abundance chemical-equilibrium model at the expectedtemperatures. We also find that the extremely irradiated atmosphere (T > 2,500K) of WASP-12b lacks a prominent thermal inversion, or a stratosphere, and hasvery efficient day- night energy circulation. The absence of a strong thermalinversion is in stark contrast to theoretical predictions for the most highlyirradiated hot-Jupiter atmospheres.

High C/O Ratio and Weak Thermal Inversion in the Very Hot Atmosphere of Exoplanet WASP-12b