The atmosphere of a new ultra hot Jupiter is analysed

MASCARA-2B/KELT-20b
Ultra hot Jupiter - Artist's impression. Credit: Gabriel Pérez Díaz, SMM (IAC).
Advertised on
Authors

MASCARA-2B/KELT-20b is an ultra hot Jupiter. It belongs to a new group of exoplanets, the hottest known until now, which can reach temperatures at the surface of over 2,000 K. The reason for its high temperature is the proximity of its orbit around its host star, causing it to receive a large flux of radiation in the upper layers of its atmosphere.

The team, led by IAC/ULL researcher Núria Casasayas, which had already made initial measurements of the atmosphere during 2018, observed the planet during four transits. This means during four of the times when the planet passed in front of the disc of its star, along our line of sight. For this they used the HARP-N spectrograph on the National Galileo Telescope (TNG) at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory (Garafía, La Palma) and the CARMENES spectrograph on the 3.5 m telescope of the Calar Alto Observatory (Almería).

“The two instruments sample slightly different wavelength regions, which allows us to sample a wider spectral range”, explains Casasayas. And she adds: “We have been able to detect hydrogen beta, singly ionized iron and magnesium with data from HARPS-N while the presence of ionized calcium was detected only by using CARMENES. Neutral sodium and hydrogen alpha are detected with both instruments”.

The study of exoplanetary atmospheres has become front line research in recent years. Instruments which perform high resolution spectroscopy allow us not only to discover the atmospheric composition of planets outside the Solar System, but also to measure other important parameters such as the temperatures of the layers where their constituents are found, and other parameters of the dynamics of the atmosphere. 

Video (YouTube link): https://youtu.be/TduJOvZ3TTk Credit: Gabriel Pérez Díaz, SMM (IAC)

N. Casasayas-Barris, E. Palle, F. Yan, G. Chen, S. Kohl, M. Stangret, H. Parviainen, Ch. Helling, N. Watanabe, S. Czesla, A. Fukui, P. Montañes-Rodriguez, E. Nagel, N. Narita, L. Nortmann, G. Nowak, J.H.M.M. Schmit, M.R. Zapatero Osorio. Atmospheric characterization of the ultra-hot Jupiter MASCARA-2b/KELT-20b. Astronomy&Astrophysicsmanuscript May 30, 2019.

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/1905.12491

More information: Atmospheric characterisation of the ultra hot Jupiter MASCARA-2b/KELT-20b combining HARPS-N and CARMENES observations

Related projects
Diseño 3D del instrumento en su ubicación
HARPS3 (High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher)
HARPS3 (High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher) is a new version of the succesful HARPS instrument. HARPS3 is an Echelle spectrograph with high resolution (R ~ 115000) and a wavelength range of 380-690 nm. It will be installed in the Isaac Newton Telescope (upgraded and robotized) at the ORM.
Jonay Isai
González Hernández
In progress
News type
Press release
Scope
Science and Technology
Astrophysics
General public
Telescope operators
Institutions/firms
Communications media
Exoplanetary Systems & Solar System (SEYSS)
Visible instrumentation
Telescopes

It may interest you

  • Proof-of-concept prototype of DALI experiment
    Photomontage
    The IAC hosts the annual meeting of the DALI experiment to search for dark matter
    The annual meeting of the DALI (Dark-photons & Axion-Like particles Interferometer) experiment, an international collaboration to develop an astroparticle detector for the first direct observation of dark matter, was held on 7 and 8 February at the IAC headquarters in La Laguna. The various proofs of concept carried out over the last few years have given rise to a prototype, manufactured at the IAC's instrumentation facilities, whose first scientific results are expected to be published soon. The main goal of DALI is to search for dark matter axions and paraphotons in a spectral range that
    Advertised on
  • Artist’s impression of the accoustic oscillations of normal (“baryonic”) matter, taken from one of thousands of simulations used in the study/ Francisco-Shu Kitaura & Francesco Sinigaglia
    Press release
    The light from quasars, a key to the measurement of the expansion of the distant universe
    The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) in collaboration with the University of Geneva (Switzerland), the University of Osaka (Japan), and the University of Zhejiang (China) has made a key contribution to a more precise measurement of the expansion of the Universe. This is because they have made an improvement in the precision of the calculation of the scale of the universe in its early stages using the analisis of the distribution of gas in intergalactic space, measurements which reach back to epochs between 10,000 and 12,000 million years ago. This result comes from the análisis of
    Advertised on
  • Taking office of the Director of the IAC, Valentín Martínez Pillet. Credit: Inés Bonet (IAC)
    Press release
    Valentin Martínez Pillet takes office as Director of the IAC
    The researcher Valentín Martínez Pillet has taken up his duties as Director of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) today, Monday 1st July, in a ceremony with the participation of the Secretary General for Research of the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities Eva Ortega-Paíno, and the outgoing Director of the IAC, Rafael Rebolo. The new Director of the IAC, Valentín Martínez Pillet, takes up the challenge of running the centre in which he is a Research Professor with “a great sense of responsibility” and with the aim of mainaining and enhancing its scientific and
    Advertised on