Bibcode
Lopez-Morales, Mercedes; Ribas, Ignasi; Herrero, Enrique; Palle, E.; Swain, Mark R.; Tinetti, Giovanna
Bibliographical reference
NOAO Proposal ID #2010B-0131
Advertised on:
8
2010
Citations
0
Refereed citations
0
Description
The study of hot Jupiter planet atmospheres is giving rise to a
surprising and intriguing diversity. Large differences in night/day
contrast, chemical abundances, and physical properties are just a few
examples of the variety found. A further recent addition to this complex
picture is the discovery of a very strong emission feature (a factor of
4 increase in flux) at 3.2 (micron) in the transiting exoplanet HD
189733 b. Such emission has been associated to the fluorescence of the
methane molecule in the heavily irradiated atmosphere of this hot
Jupiter. The only viable way to move forward and understand how hot
Jupiter atmospheres work is to gather data for additional planets with
different irradiations. We propose Gemini/NIRI observations of the
transiting planet XO-2 b in the L' band to reconstruct its emission
spectrum. The target has been selected to obtain high-precision
measurements and thus provide insight into the mechanisms that govern
the atmospheres of hot Jupiter planets, including the newly proposed
non- equilibrium chemistry.