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Transmission spectroscopy of the inflated exoplanet WASP-52b, and evidence for a bright region on the stellar surface
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Kirk, James, Wheatley, Peter J., Louden, Tom M., Littlefair, S. P., Copperwheat, C. M., Armstrong, David J., Marsh, Tom and Dhillon, V. S. (2016) Transmission spectroscopy of the inflated exoplanet WASP-52b, and evidence for a bright region on the stellar surface. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 463 (3). pp. 2922-2931. doi:10.1093/mnras/stw2205 ISSN 0035-8711.
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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stw2205
Abstract
We have measured the transmission spectrum of the extremely inflated hot Jupiter WASP-52b using simultaneous photometric observations in Sloan Digital Sky Survey u′, g′ and a filter centred on the sodium doublet (Na I) with the ULTRACAM instrument mounted on the 4.2-m William Herschel Telescope. We find that Rayleigh scattering is not the dominant source of opacity within the planetary atmosphere and find a transmission spectrum more consistent with wavelength-independent opacity such as from clouds. We detect an in-transit anomaly that we attribute to the presence of stellar activity and find that this feature can be more simply modelled as a bright region on the stellar surface akin to solar faculae rather than spots. A spot model requires a significantly larger planet/star radius ratio than that found in previous studies. Our results highlight the precision that can be achieved by ground-based photometry with errors in the scaled planetary radii of less than one atmospheric scale height, comparable to Hubble Space Telescope observations.
Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||||
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Subjects: | Q Science > QB Astronomy | ||||||||
Divisions: | Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Science > Physics | ||||||||
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Stars, Planetary systems, Starspots | ||||||||
Journal or Publication Title: | Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society | ||||||||
Publisher: | Oxford University Press | ||||||||
ISSN: | 0035-8711 | ||||||||
Official Date: | 11 December 2016 | ||||||||
Dates: |
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Volume: | 463 | ||||||||
Number: | 3 | ||||||||
Page Range: | pp. 2922-2931 | ||||||||
DOI: | 10.1093/mnras/stw2205 | ||||||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||||||
Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access | ||||||||
Date of first compliant deposit: | 19 October 2016 | ||||||||
Date of first compliant Open Access: | 20 October 2016 | ||||||||
Funder: | Science and Technology Facilities Council (Great Britain) (STFC), Seventh Framework Programme (European Commission) (FP7) | ||||||||
Grant number: | ST/L00073, ST/M001350 (STFC), Grant no. 313014 ETAEARTH (FP7) |
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