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arXiv 0712.1374astro-ph
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太阳系外行星大气霾的探测:用哈勃空间望远镜观测HD189733b的0.55 - 1.05微米透射光谱

Detection of atmospheric haze on an extrasolar planet: The 0.55 - 1.05 micron transmission spectrum of HD189733b with the Hubble Space Telescope

F. Pont, H. Knutson, R. L. Gilliland, C. Moutou, D. Charbonneau

摘要:

附近的凌日行星HD 189733 b在三次凌日期间被哈勃太空望远镜的ACS相机以光谱模式观测到。由此产生的675个光谱的时间序列覆盖550-1050 nm范围,分辨率元素为~8 nm,具有极高的精度(每个光谱中以50 nm间隔的信噪比高达10,000)。利用这些数据,我们解开临边暗化的影响,测量系统,并在主星表面上的斑点,计算有效的过境半径的波长依赖的精度~50公里。这就构成了行星大气的"透射光谱“。它显示了在每一个波长上,在凌日过程中,行星大气对掠食恒星光变得不透明的高度。在这个波长范围内,钠、钾和水的强烈特征被大气模型预测为HD 189733 b这样的行星,但它们可能被大气层中更高的云或薄雾的广泛吸收所隐藏。我们观察到在550和1050 nm之间几乎没有特征的透射光谱,没有预期的钠或钾原子吸收特征的迹象。将我们的结果与在近红外和中红外(2-8微米)观测到的过境半径以及光谱的斜率进行比较,表明在该行星的高层大气中存在亚微米颗粒的薄雾。

英文摘要:

The nearby transiting planet HD 189733b was observed during three transits with the ACS camera of the Hubble Space Telescope in spectroscopic mode. The resulting time series of 675 spectra covers the 550-1050 nm range, with a resolution element of ~8 nm, at extremely high accuracy (signal-to-noise ratio up to 10,000 in 50 nm intervals in each individual spectrum). Using these data, we disentangle the effects of limb darkening, measurement systematics, and spots on the surface of the host star, to calculate the wavelength dependence of the effective transit radius to an accuracy of ~50 km. This constitutes the ``transmission spectrum'' of the planetary atmosphere. It indicates at each wavelength at what height the planetary atmosphere becomes opaque to the grazing stellar light during the transit. In this wavelength range, strong features due to sodium, potassium and water are predicted by atmosphere models for a planet like HD 189733b, but they can be hidden by broad absorption from clouds or hazes higher up in the atmosphere. We observed an almost featureless transmission spectrum between 550 and 1050 nm, with no indication of the expected sodium or potassium atomic absorption features. Comparison of our results with the transit radius observed in the near and mid-infrared (2-8 microns), and the slope of the spectrum, suggest the presence of a haze of sub-micron particles in the upper atmosphere of the planet.

机构、总结、中文摘要均由AI分析而来,可能存在错误,请以论文正文为准。

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