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Exoplanet Transit Spectroscopy of Hot Jupiters Using HST/WFC3

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 January 2014

Korey Haynes ,
Avi M. Mandell ,
Evan Sinukoff ,
Nikku Madhusudhan ,
Adam Burrows  and
Drake Deming
Korey Haynes*
Affiliation:
Solar System Exploration Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA Department of Physics and Astronomy, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030, USA
Avi M. Mandell
Affiliation:
Solar System Exploration Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
Evan Sinukoff
Affiliation:
Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA
Nikku Madhusudhan
Affiliation:
Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA
Adam Burrows
Affiliation:
Yale Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
Drake Deming
Affiliation:
Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
*
7Corresponding Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

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We present analysis of transit spectroscopy of three extrasolar planets, WASP-12 b, WASP-17 b, and WASP-19 b, using the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). Measurement of molecular absorption in the atmospheres of these planets offers the chance to explore several outstanding questions regarding the atmospheric structure and composition of these highly irradiated, Jupiter-mass objects. We analyze the data for a single transit for each planet, using a strategy similar in certain aspects to the techniques used by Berta (2012), and achieve almost photon-limited results for individual spectral bins. Our final transit spectra are consistent with the presence of a broad absorption feature at 1.4 μm most likely due to water, but the amplitude of the absorption is less than expected based on previous observations with Spitzer, possibly due to hazes absorbing in the NIR. However, the degeneracy of models with different compositions and temperature structures combined with the low amplitude of any features in the data preclude our ability to place unambiguous constraints on the atmospheric composition without a comprehensive multi-wavelength analysis.

Keywords

stars: planetary systemstransitstechniques: photometrictechniques: spectroscopic
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 8 , Symposium S299: Exploring the Formation and Evolution of Planetary Systems , June 2013 , pp. 266 - 270
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2013 

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