No Arabic abstract
WASP-19b is one of the most irradiated hot-Jupiters known. Its secondary eclipse is the deepest of all transiting planets, and has been measured in multiple optical and infrared bands. We obtained a z band eclipse observation, with measured depth of 0.080 +/- 0.029 %, using the 2m Faulkes Telescope South, that is consistent with the results of previous observations. We combine our measurement of the z band eclipse with previous observations to explore atmosphere models of WASP-19b that are consistent with the its broadband spectrum. We use the VSTAR radiative transfer code to examine the effect of varying pressure-temperature profiles and C/O abundance ratios on the emission spectrum of the planet. We find models with super-solar carbon enrichment best match the observations, consistent with previous model retrieval studies. We also include upper atmosphere haze as another dimension in the interpretation of exoplanet emission spectra, and find that particles <0.5 micron in size are unlikely to be present in WASP-19b.
We present an occultation of the newly discovered hot Jupiter system WASP-19, observed with the HAWK-I instrument on the VLT, in order to measure thermal emission from the planets dayside at ~2 um. The light curve was analysed using a Markov-Chain Monte-Carlo method to find the eclipse depth and the central transit time. The transit depth was found to be 0.366+-0.072 %, corresponding to a brightness temperature of 2540+-180 K. This is significantly higher than the calculated (zero-albedo) equilibrium temperature, and indicates that the planet shows poor redistribution of heat to the night side, consistent with models of highly irradiated planets. Further observations are needed to confirm the existence of a temperature inversion, and possibly molecular emission lines. The central eclipse time was found to be consistent with a circular orbit.
We present the first ground-based detection of thermal emission from an exoplanet in the H-band. Using HAWK-I on the VLT, we observed an occultation of WASP-19b by its G8V-type host star. WASP-19b is a Jupiter-mass planet with an orbital period of only 19 h, and thus, being highly irradiated, is expected to be hot. We measure an H-band occultation depth of (0.259 +0.046 -0.044) %, which corresponds to an H-band brightness temperature of T_H = 2580 +/- 125 K. A cloud-free model of the planets atmosphere, with no redistribution of energy from day-side to night-side, under predicts the planet/star flux density ratio by a factor of two. As the stellar parameters, and thus the level of planetary irradiation, are well-constrained by measurement, it is likely that our model of the planets atmosphere is too simple.
We report the detection of thermal emission from the hot Jupiter WASP-3b in the KS band, using a newly developed guiding scheme for the WIRC instrument at the Palomar Hale 200in telescope. Our new guiding scheme has improved the telescope guiding precision by a factor of ~5-7, significantly reducing the correlated systematics in the measured light curves. This results in the detection of a secondary eclipse with depth of 0.181%pm0.020% (9-{sigma}) - a significant improvement in WIRCs photometric precision and a demonstration of the capability of Palomar/WIRC to produce high quality measurements of exoplanetary atmospheres. Our measured eclipse depth cannot be explained by model atmospheres with heat redistribution but favor a pure radiative equilibrium case with no redistribution across the surface of the planet. Our measurement also gives an eclipse phase center of 0.5045pm0.0020, corresponding to an ecos{omega} of 0.0070pm0.0032. This result is consistent with a circular orbit, although it also suggests the planets orbit might be slightly eccentric. The possible non-zero eccentricity provides insight into the tidal circularization process of the star-planet system, but also might have been caused by a second low-mass planet in the system, as suggested by a previous transit timing variation study. More secondary eclipse observations, especially at multiple wavelengths, are necessary to determine the temperature-pressure profile of the planetary atmosphere and shed light on its orbital eccentricity.
The short period ($0.94$-day) transiting exoplanet WASP-19b is an exceptional target for transmission spectroscopy studies, due to its relatively large atmospheric scale-height ($sim 500$ km) and equilibrium temperature ($sim 2100$ K). Here we report on six precise spectroscopic Magellan/IMACS observations, five of which target the full optical window from $0.45-0.9mu$m and one targeting the $0.4-0.55mu$m blue-optical range. Five of these datasets are consistent with a transmission spectrum without any significant spectral features, while one shows a significant slope as a function of wavelength, which we interpret as arising from photospheric heterogeneities in the star. Coupled with HST/WFC3 infrared observations, our optical/near-infrared measurements point to the presence of high altitude clouds in WASP-19bs atmosphere in agreement with previous studies. Using a semi-analytical retrieval approach, considering both planetary and stellar spectral features, we find a water abundance consistent with solar for WASP-19b and strong evidence for sub-solar abundances for optical absorbers such as TiO and Na; no strong optical slope is detected, which suggests that if hazes are present, they are much weaker than previously suggested. In addition, two spot-crossing events are observed in our datasets and analyzed, including one of the first unambiguously detected bright spot-crossing events on an exoplanet host star.
We report the detection of the eclipse of the very-hot Jupiter WASP-12b via z-band time-series photometry obtained with the 3.5-meter ARC telescope at Apache Point Observatory. We measure a decrease in flux of 0.082+/-0.015% during the passage of the planet behind the star. That planetary flux is equally well reproduced by atmospheric models with and without extra absorbers, and blackbody models with f > 0.585+/-0.080. It is therefore necessary to measure the planet at other wavelengths to further constrain its atmospheric properties. The eclipse appears centered at phase = 0.5100 (+0.0072,-0.0061), consistent with an orbital eccentricity of |e cos w| = 0.016 (+0.011,-0.009) (see note at end of Section 4). If the orbit of the planet is indeed eccentric, the large radius of WASP-12b can be explained by tidal heating.