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Register a new userA More Informative Map: Inverting Thermal Orbital Phase and Eclipse Lightcurves of Exoplanets
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Only one exoplanet has so far been mapped in both longitude and latitude, but the James Webb Space Telescope should provide mapping-quality data for dozens of exoplanets. The thermal phase mapping problem has previously been solved analytically, with orthogonal maps---spherical harmonics---yielding orthogonal lightcurves---sinusoids. The eclipse mapping problem, let alone combined phase+eclipse mapping, does not lend itself to such a neat solution. Previous efforts have either adopted spherical harmonics, or various ad hoc map parameterizations, none of which produce orthogonal lightcurves. We use principal component analysis to construct orthogonal eigencurves, which we then use to fit published 8 micron observations of the hot Jupiter HD 189733b. This approach has a few advantages over previously used techniques: 1) the lightcurves can be pre-computed, accelerating the fitting process, 2) the eigencurves are orthogonal to each other, reducing parameter correlations, and 3) the eigencurves are model-independent and are ranked in order of sensitivity. One notable result of our analysis is that eclipse-only mapping of HD 189733b is far more sensitive to the central concentration of dayside flux than to the eastward offset of that hotspot. Mapping can, in principle, suffer from degeneracies between spatial patterns and orbital parameters. Previous mapping efforts using these data have either assumed a circular orbit and precise inclination, or have been pessimistic about the prospects of eclipse mapping in the face of uncertain orbital parameters. We show that for HD 189733b the combined photometry and radial velocity are sufficiently precise to retire this concern. Lastly, we present the first map of brightness temperature, and we quantify the amplitude and longitude offset of the dayside hotspot.
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Laser ranging measurements during the total lunar eclipse on 2010 December 21 verify previously suspected thermal lensing in the retroreflectors left on the lunar surface by the Apollo astronauts. Signal levels during the eclipse far exceeded those historically seen at full moon, and varied over an order of magnitude as the eclipse progressed. These variations can be understood via a straightforward thermal scenario involving solar absorption by a ~50% covering of dust that has accumulated on the front surfaces of the reflectors. The same mechanism can explain the long-term degradation of signal from the reflectors as well as the acute signal deficit observed near full moon.
Planetary rotation rates and obliquities provide information regarding the history of planet formation, but have not yet been measured for evolved extrasolar planets. Here we investigate the theoretical and observational perspective of the Rossiter-McLauglin effect during secondary eclipse (RMse) ingress and egress for transiting exoplanets. Near secondary eclipse, when the planet passes behind the parent star, the star sequentially obscures light from the approaching and receding parts of the rotating planetary surface. The temporal block of light emerging from the approaching (blue-shifted) or receding (red-shifted) parts of the planet causes a temporal distortion in the planets spectral line profiles resulting in an anomaly in the planets radial velocity curve. We demonstrate that the shape and the ratio of the ingress-to-egress radial velocity amplitudes depends on the planetary rotational rate, axial tilt and impact factor (i.e. sky-projected planet spin-orbital alignment). In addition, line asymmetries originating from different layers in the atmosphere of the planet could provide information regarding zonal atmospheric winds and constraints on the hot spot shape for giant irradiated exoplanets. The effect is expected to be most-pronounced at near-infrared wavelengths, where the planet-to-star contrasts are large. We create synthetic near-infrared, high-dispersion spectroscopic data and demonstrate how the sky-projected spin axis orientation and equatorial velocity of the planet can be estimated. We conclude that the RMse effect could be a powerful method to measure exoplanet spins.
The theory of remote sensing shows that observing a planet at multiple phase angles ($alpha$) is a powerful strategy to characterize its atmosphere. Here, we analyse how the information contained in reflected-starlight spectra of exoplanets depends on the phase angle, and the potential of multi-phase measurements to better constrain the atmospheric properties and the planet radius ($R_p$). We simulate spectra (500-900 nm) at $alpha$=37$^circ$, 85$^circ$ and 123$^circ$ with spectral resolution $R$~125-225 and signal-to-noise ratio $S/N$=10. Assuming a H$_2$-He atmosphere, we use a seven-parameter model that includes the atmospheric methane abundance ($f_{CH_4}$), the optical properties of a cloud layer and $R_p$. All these parameters are assumed unknown a priori and explored with an MCMC retrieval method. We find that no single-phase observation can robustly identify whether the atmosphere has clouds or not. A single-phase observation at $alpha$=123$^circ$ and $S/N$=10 can constrain $R_p$ with a maximum error of 35%, regardless of the cloud coverage. Combining small (37$^circ$) and large (123$^circ$) phase angles is a generally effective strategy to break multiple parameter degeneracies. This enables to determine the presence or absence of a cloud and its main properties, $f_{CH_4}$ and $R_p$ in all the explored scenarios. Other strategies, such as doubling $S/N$ to 20 for a single-phase observation or combining small (37$^circ$) and moderate (85$^circ$) phase angles, fail to achieve this. We show that the improvements in multi-phase retrievals are associated with the shape of the scattering phase function of the cloud aerosols and that the improvement is more modest for isotropically-scattering aerosols. We finally discuss that misidentifying the background gas in the retrievals of super-Earth observations leads to a systematic underestimate of the absorbing gas abundance.
Transiting exoplanets provide access to data to study the mass-radius relation and internal structure of extrasolar planets. Long-period transiting planets allow insight into planetary environments similar to the Solar System where, in contrast to hot Jupiters, planets are not constantly exposed to the intense radiation of their parent stars. Observations of secondary eclipses additionally permit studies of exoplanet temperatures and large-scale exo-atmospheric properties. We show how transit and eclipse probabilities are related to planet-star system geometries, particularly for long-period, eccentric orbits. The resulting target selection and observational strategies represent the principal ingredients of our photometric survey of known radial-velocity planets with the aim of detecting transit signatures (TERMS).
Context: Transit or eclipse timing variations have proven to be a valuable tool in exoplanet research. However, no simple way to estimate the potential precision of such timing measures has been presented yet, nor are guidelines available regarding the relation between timing errors and sampling rate. Aims: A `timing error estimator (TEE) equation is presented that requires only basic transit parameters as input. With the TEE, it is straightforward to estimate timing precisions both for actual data as well as for future instruments, such as the TESS and PLATO space missions. Methods: A derivation of the timing error based on a trapezoidal transit shape is given. We also verify the TEE on realistically modeled transits using Monte Carlo simulations and determine its validity range, exploring in particular the interplay between ingress/egress times and sampling rates. Results: The simulations show that the TEE gives timing errors very close to the correct value, as long as the temporal sampling is faster than transit ingress/egress durations and transits with very low S/N are avoided. Conclusions: The TEE is a useful tool to estimate eclipse or transit timing errors in actual and future data-sets. In combination with an equation to estimate period errors (Deeg 2015), predictions for the ephemeris precision of long-coverage observations are possible as well. The tests for the TEEs validity-range led also to implications for instrumental design: Temporal sampling has to be faster than transit in- or egress durations, or a loss in timing-precision will occur. An application to the TESS mission shows that transits close to its detection limit will have timing uncertainties that exceed 1 hour within a few months after their acquisition. Prompt follow-up observations will be needed to avoid a `loosing of their ephemeris.
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