Issue |
A&A
Volume 642, October 2020
|
|
---|---|---|
Article Number | A98 | |
Number of page(s) | 13 | |
Section | Planets and planetary systems | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201937265 | |
Published online | 08 October 2020 |
LBT transmission spectroscopy of HAT-P-12b
Confirmation of a cloudy atmosphere with no significant alkali features
1
Institut für Astrophysik, Georg-August-Universität,
Friedrich-Hund-Platz 1,
37077
Göttingen, Germany
e-mail: fei.yan@uni-goettingen.de
2
Max Planck Institute for Astronomy,
Königstuhl 17,
69117
Heidelberg, Germany
3
Space Telescope Science Institute,
3700 San Martin Drive,
Baltimore,
MD
21218, USA
4
Department of Physics, University of Rome Tor Vergata,
Via della Ricerca Scientifica 1,
00133
Rome, Italy
5
INAF – Osservatorio Astrofisico di Torino,
Via Osservatorio 20,
10025
Pino Torinese, Italy
6
International Institute for Advanced Scientific Studies (IIASS),
Via G. Pellegrino 19,
84019
Vietri sul Mare (SA), Italy
7
Leibniz-Institut für Astrophysik Potsdam (AIP),
An der Sternwarte 16,
14482
Potsdam, Germany
8
Department of Astronomy/Steward Observatory, The University of Arizona,
933 N. Cherry Avenue,
Tucson,
AZ
85721, USA
9
Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
77 Massachusetts Avenue,
Cambridge,
MA
02139, USA
10
Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
77 Massachusetts Avenue,
Cambridge,
MA
02139, USA
11
Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, The University of Arizona,
1640 E. Univ. Blvd.
Tucson,
AZ
85721, USA
12
Facultad de Ingeniería y Ciencias, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez,
Av. Diagonal las Torres 2640,
Peñalolén,
Santiago, Chile
13
Millennium Institute of Astrophysics,
Av. Vicuña Mackenna 4860,
782-0436
Macul,
Santiago, Chile
14
Key Laboratory of Planetary Sciences, Purple Mountain Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences,
Nanjing
210023, PR China
Received:
5
December
2019
Accepted:
30
July
2020
The hot sub-Saturn-mass exoplanet HAT-P-12b is an ideal target for transmission spectroscopy because of its inflated radius. We observed one transit of the planet with the multi-object double spectrograph (MODS) on the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) with the binocular mode and obtained an atmosphere transmission spectrum with a wavelength coverage of ~0.4–0.9 μm. The spectrum is relatively flat and does not show any significant sodium or potassium absorption features. Our result is consistent with the revised Hubble Space Telescope (HST) transmission spectrum of a previous work, except that the HST result indicates a tentative detection of potassium. The potassium discrepancy could be the result of statistical fluctuation of the HST dataset. We fit the planetary transmission spectrum with an extensive grid of cloudy models and confirm the presence of high-altitude clouds in the planetary atmosphere. The fit was performed on the combined LBT and HST spectrum, which has an overall wavelength range of 0.4–1.6 μm. The LBT/MODS spectrograph has unique advantages in transmission spectroscopy observations because it can cover a wide wavelength range with a single exposure and acquire two sets of independent spectra simultaneously.
Key words: planets and satellites: atmospheres / techniques: spectroscopic / stars: atmospheres / planets and satellites: individual: HAT-P-12b
© ESO 2020
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