Issue |
A&A
Volume 662, June 2022
|
|
---|---|---|
Article Number | A51 | |
Number of page(s) | 8 | |
Section | Planets and planetary systems | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202142787 | |
Published online | 15 June 2022 |
Exoplanet atmospheres at high resolution through a modest-size telescope
Fe II in MASCARA-2b and KELT-9b with FIES on the Nordic Optical Telescope
1
National Space Institute, Technical University of Denmark,
Elektrovej,
2800 Kgs.
Lyngby,
Denmark
e-mail: aarb@space.dtu.dk
2
University of Bern, Center for Space and Habitability,
Gesellschaftsstrasse 6,
3012
Bern,
Switzerland
3
University of Warwick, Department of Physics, Astronomy & Astrophysics Group,
Coventry
CV4 7AL
UK
4
Ludwig Maximilian University, University Observatory Munich,
Scheinerstr. 1,
Munich
81679
Germany
5
Lund Observatory,
Box 43, Sölvegatan 27,
22100
Lund,
Sweden
6
Department of Astronomy, University of California Berkeley,
Berkeley,
CA
94720-3411
USA
7
Centre for Star and Planet Formation, Natural History Museum of Denmark & Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen,
Øster Voldgade 5–7,
1350
Copenhagen K.,
Denmark
Received:
30
November
2021
Accepted:
8
March
2022
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 Fe II at the 4.5σ and 4.0σ level in the transits of MaSCARA-2 b. We also detect Fe II in the transit of KELT-9 b at the 8.5σ level. Although we do not find any significant Doppler shift in the signal of MASCARA-2 b, we do measure a moderate blueshift (3–6 km s−1) of the feature in KELT-9 b, which might be a manifestation of high-velocity winds transporting Fe II 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.
Key words: instrumentation: spectrographs / planets and satellites: atmospheres / planets and satellites: gaseous planets
© ESO 2022
Current usage metrics show cumulative count of Article Views (full-text article views including HTML views, PDF and ePub downloads, according to the available data) and Abstracts Views on Vision4Press platform.
Data correspond to usage on the plateform after 2015. The current usage metrics is available 48-96 hours after online publication and is updated daily on week days.
Initial download of the metrics may take a while.