Exoplanet atmospheres at high resolution through a modest-size telescope : FeII in MASCARA-2b and KELT-9b with FIES on the Nordic Optical Telescope
(2022) In Astronomy and Astrophysics 662.- Abstract
Ground-based, high-resolution spectrographs are providing us with an unprecedented view of the dynamics and chemistry of the atmospheres of planets outside the Solar System. While there are a large number of stable and precise high-resolution spectrographs on modest-size telescopes, it is the spectrographs at observatories with apertures larger than 3.5 m that dominate the atmospheric follow-up of exoplanets. In this work we explore the potential of characterising exoplanetary atmospheres with FIES, a high-resolution spectrograph at the 2.56 m Nordic Optical Telescope. We observed two transits of MASCARA-2 b (also known as KELT-20 b) and one transit of KELT-9 b to search for atomic iron, a species that has recently been discovered in... (More)
Ground-based, high-resolution spectrographs are providing us with an unprecedented view of the dynamics and chemistry of the atmospheres of planets outside the Solar System. While there are a large number of stable and precise high-resolution spectrographs on modest-size telescopes, it is the spectrographs at observatories with apertures larger than 3.5 m that dominate the atmospheric follow-up of exoplanets. In this work we explore the potential of characterising exoplanetary atmospheres with FIES, a high-resolution spectrograph at the 2.56 m Nordic Optical Telescope. We observed two transits of MASCARA-2 b (also known as KELT-20 b) and one transit of KELT-9 b to search for atomic iron, a species that has recently been discovered in both neutral and ionised forms in the atmospheres of these ultra-hot Jupiters using large telescopes. Using a cross-correlation method, we detect a signal of FeII at the 4.5and 4.0level in the transits of MaSCARA-2 b. We also detect FeII in the transit of KELT-9 b at the 8.5level. Although we do not find any significant Doppler shift in the signal of MASCARA-2 b, we do measure a moderate blueshift (3a-6 km s1) of the feature in KELT-9 b, which might be a manifestation of high-velocity winds transporting FeII from the planetary dayside to the nightside. Our work demonstrates the feasibility of investigating exoplanet atmospheres with FIES, and it potentially unlocks a wealth of additional atmosphere detections with this and other high-resolution spectrographs mounted on similar-size telescopes.
(Less)
- author
- Bello-Arufe, Aaron ; Buchhave, Lars A. ; Mendonça, João M. ; Tronsgaard, René ; Heng, Kevin ; Jens Hoeijmakers, H. LU and Mayo, Andrew W.
- organization
- publishing date
- 2022-06-01
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- keywords
- Instrumentation: spectrographs, Planets and satellites: atmospheres, Planets and satellites: gaseous planets
- in
- Astronomy and Astrophysics
- volume
- 662
- article number
- A51
- publisher
- EDP Sciences
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85132280028
- ISSN
- 0004-6361
- DOI
- 10.1051/0004-6361/202142787
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- c6b8b29e-fed1-444b-af65-b4b29a748422
- date added to LUP
- 2022-09-23 09:02:58
- date last changed
- 2025-04-04 03:12:32
@article{c6b8b29e-fed1-444b-af65-b4b29a748422,
abstract = {{<p>Ground-based, high-resolution spectrographs are providing us with an unprecedented view of the dynamics and chemistry of the atmospheres of planets outside the Solar System. While there are a large number of stable and precise high-resolution spectrographs on modest-size telescopes, it is the spectrographs at observatories with apertures larger than 3.5 m that dominate the atmospheric follow-up of exoplanets. In this work we explore the potential of characterising exoplanetary atmospheres with FIES, a high-resolution spectrograph at the 2.56 m Nordic Optical Telescope. We observed two transits of MASCARA-2 b (also known as KELT-20 b) and one transit of KELT-9 b to search for atomic iron, a species that has recently been discovered in both neutral and ionised forms in the atmospheres of these ultra-hot Jupiters using large telescopes. Using a cross-correlation method, we detect a signal of FeII at the 4.5and 4.0level in the transits of MaSCARA-2 b. We also detect FeII in the transit of KELT-9 b at the 8.5level. Although we do not find any significant Doppler shift in the signal of MASCARA-2 b, we do measure a moderate blueshift (3a-6 km s1) of the feature in KELT-9 b, which might be a manifestation of high-velocity winds transporting FeII from the planetary dayside to the nightside. Our work demonstrates the feasibility of investigating exoplanet atmospheres with FIES, and it potentially unlocks a wealth of additional atmosphere detections with this and other high-resolution spectrographs mounted on similar-size telescopes.</p>}},
author = {{Bello-Arufe, Aaron and Buchhave, Lars A. and Mendonça, João M. and Tronsgaard, René and Heng, Kevin and Jens Hoeijmakers, H. and Mayo, Andrew W.}},
issn = {{0004-6361}},
keywords = {{Instrumentation: spectrographs; Planets and satellites: atmospheres; Planets and satellites: gaseous planets}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{06}},
publisher = {{EDP Sciences}},
series = {{Astronomy and Astrophysics}},
title = {{Exoplanet atmospheres at high resolution through a modest-size telescope : FeII in MASCARA-2b and KELT-9b with FIES on the Nordic Optical Telescope}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202142787}},
doi = {{10.1051/0004-6361/202142787}},
volume = {{662}},
year = {{2022}},
}