Atmospheric Clues Unlocked in Exoplanet WASP-4b

Paper Title:

ACCESS: Ground-based Optical Transmission Spectroscopy of the Hot Jupiter WASP-4b

Published on:

18 December 2018

Primary Category:

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics

Paper Authors:

Alex Bixel,

Benjamin V. Rackham,

Dániel Apai,

Néstor Espinoza,

Mercedes López-Morales,

David J. Osip,

Andrés Jordán,

Chima McGruder,

Ian Weaver

Bullets

Key Details

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Observations made using Magellan/IMACS captured 4 transits of WASP-4b

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The optical transmission spectrum from 450-900 nm appears largely featureless

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No strong evidence found for hazes, Na, K, or other absorbers in the atmosphere

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Star spots on two transits were modeled to measure their sizes and temperatures

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Stellar contamination was modeled and shown to impact the spectrum

Explore the topics in this paper

atmospheric characterization

spectral contamination

spot modeling

transit spectroscopy

wasp-4b

AI generated summary

Atmospheric Clues Unlocked in Exoplanet WASP-4b

This paper presents an analysis of the atmosphere of the hot Jupiter exoplanet WASP-4b. Observations were made using the Magellan telescope to capture the planet's transmission spectrum as it crossed in front of its host star. The spectrum appears mostly featureless, with no strong evidence for light-scattering particles or atomic absorption, suggesting the presence of high-altitude clouds. The effects of stellar contamination were modeled to account for biases from star spots and faculae. The paper also demonstrates methods for disentangling planetary and stellar signals that will aid future ground-based studies of exoplanet atmospheres.