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arXiv · 1210.4836

Re-Evaluating WASP-12b: Strong Emission at 2.315 micron, Deeper Occultations, and an Isothermal Atmosphere

Ian J. M. Crossfield·Travis Barman·Brad M. S. Hansen·Ichi Tanaka·Tadayuki Kodama
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Abstract

We revisit the atmospheric properties of the extremely hot Jupiter WASP-12b in light of several new developments. First, new narrowband (2.315 micron) secondary eclipse photometry that we present here, which exhibits a planet/star flux ratio of 0.45% +/- 0.06 %, corresponding to a brightness temperature of 3640 K +/- 230 K; second, recent Spitzer/IRAC and Hubble/WFC3 observations; and third, a recently observed star only 1" from WASP-12, which has diluted previous observations and which we further characterize here. We correct past WASP-12b eclipse measurements for the presence of this object, and we revisit the interpretation of WASP-12b's dilution-corrected emission spectrum. The resulting planetary emission spectrum is well-approximated by a blackbody, and consequently our primary conclusion is that the planet's infrared photosphere is nearly isothermal. Thus secondary eclipse spectroscopy is relatively ill-suited to constrain WASP-12b's atmospheric abundances, and transmission spectroscopy may be necessary to achieve this goal.

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Ian J. M. Crossfield, Travis Barman, Brad M. S. Hansen, Ichi Tanaka, Tadayuki Kodama. 2012-10-17. Re-Evaluating WASP-12b: Strong Emission at 2.315 micron, Deeper Occultations, and an Isothermal Atmosphere. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637x/760/2/140

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