Near-UV and optical observations of the transiting exoplanet TrES-3b

Turner, Jake D.; Smart, Brianna; Hardegree-Ullman, Kevin K.; Carleton, Timothy; Walker-LaFollette, A.; Crawford, Benjamin E.; Smith, Carter-Thaxton W.; McGraw, A. M.; Small, L.; Rocchetto, Marco; Cunningham, Kathryn I.; Towner, A. P.; Zellem, Robert T.; Robertson, Amy; Guvenen, B.; Schwarz, Kamber R.; Hardegree-Ullman, E.; Collura, D.; Henz, Triana N.; Lejoly, Cassandra; Richardson, L.; Weinand, M. A.; Taylor, Joanna M.; Daugherty, Michael; Wilson, Ashley A.; Austin, Carmen

doi:10.1093/mnras/sts061

Cited by 57 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 90 publications

(123 reference statements)

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“…The data were originally published by O'Donovan et al Turner et al (2013) and Kundurthy et al (2013). The light curves by Gibson et al (2009) were obtained with the RISE instrument on the Liverpool Telescope with a transmission from about 500 nm to 700 nm.…”

Section: Photometrymentioning

confidence: 99%

Transmission spectroscopy of the hot Jupiter TrES-3 b: Disproof of an overly large Rayleigh-like feature

Mackebrandt

Mallonn

Ohlert

et al. 2017

A&A

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Context. Transit events of extrasolar planets offer the opportunity to study the composition of their atmospheres. Previous work on transmission spectroscopy of the close-in gas giant TrES-3 b revealed an increase in absorption towards blue wavelengths of very large amplitude in terms of atmospheric pressure scale heights, too large to be explained by Rayleigh-scattering in the planetary atmosphere.Aims. We present a follow-up study of the optical transmission spectrum of the hot Jupiter TrES-3 b to investigate the strong increase in opacity towards short wavelengths found by a previous study. Furthermore, we aim to estimate the effect of stellar spots on the transmission spectrum. Methods. This work uses previously published long slit spectroscopy transit data of the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) and published broad band observations as well as new observations in different bands from the near-UV to the near-IR, for a homogeneous transit light curve analysis. Additionally, a long-term photometric monitoring of the TrES-3 host star was performed. Results. Our newly analysed GTC spectroscopic transit observations show a slope of much lower amplitude than previous studies. We conclude from our results the previously reported increasing signal towards short wavelengths is not intrinsic to the TrES-3 system. Furthermore, the broad band spectrum favours a flat spectrum. Long-term photometric monitoring rules out a significant modification of the transmission spectrum by unocculted star spots.

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Section: Photometrymentioning

confidence: 99%

Transmission spectroscopy of the hot Jupiter TrES-3 b: Disproof of an overly large Rayleigh-like feature

Mackebrandt

Mallonn

Ohlert

et al. 2017

A&A

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“…TrES-3b has been observed extensively (O'Donovan et al 2007;Winn et al 2008;Sozzetti et al 2009;Gibson et al 2009;Ballard et al 2009;Colón et al 2010;Lee et al 2011;Turner et al 2012;Vanko et al 2013), but many of the analyses have imposed strict priors on the limb darkening or have only considered white noise. However, the radius ratio, orbital impact parameter and stellar limb darkening are all degenerate, and the transit shape (especially when allowing for red noise) can be explained by a large poorly constrained subvolume of the parameter space.…”

Section: Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

The GTC exoplanet transit spectroscopy survey

Parviainen

Πάλλη

Nortmann

et al. 2016

A&A

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Aims. We search for Rayleigh scattering and K and Na absorption signatures from the atmosphere of TrES-3b using ground-based transmission spectroscopy covering the wavelength range from 530 to 950 nm as observed with the OSIRIS instrument at the Gran Telescopio CANARIAS. Methods. Our analysis is based on a Bayesian approach where the light curves covering a set of given passbands are fitted jointly with PHOENIX-calculated stellar limb darkening profiles. The analysis is carried out assuming both white and red noise that is temporally correlated, with two approaches (Gaussian processes and divide-by-white) to account for the red noise.Results. An initial analysis reveals a transmission spectrum that shows a strong Rayleigh-like increase in extinction towards the blue end of the spectrum, and enhanced extinction around the K I resonance doublet near 767 nm. However, the signal amplitudes are significantly larger than expected from theoretical considerations. A detailed analysis reveals that the K I-like feature is entirely due to variability in the telluric O 2 absorption, but the Rayleigh-like feature remains unexplained.

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“…For the brightest exoplanets, radii can be constrained using U (λ ∼ 0.35 µm) and B (λ ∼ 0.45 µm) photometry with relatively small telescopes (e.g. 1.6 m) equipped with a sensitive CCD and a high cadence readout [47][48][49]. In addition star spots, which can considerably affect optical measurements, can be characterized through broadband optical and near-IR photometry [50].…”

Section: Resolving the Degeneracies (A) Determination Of The Radiusmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disentangling degenerate solutions from primary transit and secondary eclipse spectroscopy of exoplanets

Griffith

2014

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A.

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Infrared transmission and emission spectroscopy of exoplanets, recorded from primary transit and secondary eclipse measurements, indicate the presence of the most abundant carbon and oxygen molecular species (H 2 O, CH 4 , CO and CO 2 ) in a few exoplanets. However, efforts to constrain the molecular abundances to within several orders of magnitude are thwarted by the broad range of degenerate solutions that fit the data. Here, we explore, with radiative transfer models and analytical approximations, the nature of the degenerate solution sets resulting from the sparse measurements of ‘hot Jupiter’ exoplanets. As demonstrated with simple analytical expressions, primary transit measurements probe roughly four atmospheric scale heights at each wavelength band. Derived mixing ratios from these data are highly sensitive to errors in the radius of the planet at a reference pressure. For example, an uncertainty of 1% in the radius of a 1000 K and H 2 -based exoplanet with Jupiter's radius and mass causes an uncertainty of a factor of approximately 100–10 000 in the derived gas mixing ratios. The degree of sensitivity depends on how the line strength increases with the optical depth (i.e. the curve of growth) and the atmospheric scale height. Temperature degeneracies in the solutions of the primary transit data, which manifest their effects through the scale height and absorption coefficients, are smaller. We argue that these challenges can be partially surmounted by a combination of selected wavelength sampling of optical and infrared measurements and, when possible, the joint analysis of transit and secondary eclipse data of exoplanets. However, additional work is needed to constrain other effects, such as those owing to planetary clouds and star spots. Given the current range of open questions in the field, both observations and theory, there is a need for detailed measurements with space-based large mirror platforms (e.g. James web space telescope) and smaller broad survey telescopes as well as ground-based efforts.

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Near-UV and optical observations of the transiting exoplanet TrES-3b

Cited by 57 publications

References 90 publications

Transmission spectroscopy of the hot Jupiter TrES-3 b: Disproof of an overly large Rayleigh-like feature

Transmission spectroscopy of the hot Jupiter TrES-3 b: Disproof of an overly large Rayleigh-like feature

The GTC exoplanet transit spectroscopy survey

Disentangling degenerate solutions from primary transit and secondary eclipse spectroscopy of exoplanets

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