Kirk, J., Wheatley, P.J., Louden, T. et al. (5 more authors) (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. ISSN 0035-8711
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.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society following peer review. The version of record J. Kirk, P. J. Wheatley, T. Louden, S. P. Littlefair, C. M. Copperwheat, D. J. Armstrong, T. R. Marsh, V. S. Dhillon; Transmission spectroscopy of the inflated exoplanet WASP-52b, and evidence for a bright region on the stellar surface. Mon Not R Astron Soc 2016; 463 (3): 2922-2931 is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stw2205. |
Keywords: | stars: individual: WASP-52; planetary systems; starspots |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > Department of Physics and Astronomy (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 16 May 2017 12:06 |
Last Modified: | 27 Mar 2018 11:29 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stw2205 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Oxford University Press |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1093/mnras/stw2205 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:116318 |