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A. Lecavelier des Etangs

Publications and source records attributed to A. Lecavelier des Etangs.

At least 127 records · Page 7Linked to original sources

Modeling magnesium escape from HD209458b atmosphere

Transit observations in the MgI line of HD209458b revealed signatures of neutral magnesium escaping the upper atmosphere of the planet, while no atmospheric absorption was found in the MgII doublet. Here we present a 3D particle model of the dynamics of neutral and ionized magnesium populations, coupled with an analytical modeling of the atmosphere below the exobase. Theoretical MgI absorption line profiles are directly compared with the absorption observed in the blue wing of the line during the planet transit. Observations are well-fitted with an escape rate of neutral magnesium in the range 2x10^7-3.4x10^7 g/s, an exobase close to the Roche lobe (Rexo in the range 2.1-4.3 Rp, where Rp is the planet radius) and a planetary wind velocity at the exobase vpl=25km/s. The observed velocities of the planet-escaping magnesium up to -60km/s are well explained by radiation pressure acceleration, provided that UV-photoionization is compensated for by electron recombination up to about 13Rp. If the exobase properties are constrained to values given by theoretical models of the deeper atmosphere (Rexo=2Rp and vpl=10km/s), the best fit to the observations is found at a similar electron density and escape rate within 2 sigma. In all cases, the mean temperature of the atmosphere below the exobase must be higher than about 6100 K. Simulations predict a redward expansion of the absorption profile from the beginning to the end of the transit. The spatial and spectral structure of the extended atmosphere is the result of complex interactions between radiation pressure, planetary gravity, and self-shielding, and can be probed through the analysis of transit absorption profiles in the MgI line.

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A Search for Methane in the Atmosphere of GJ 1214b via GTC Narrow-Band Transmission Spectrophotometry

We present narrow-band photometric measurements of the exoplanet GJ 1214b using the 10.4 m Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) and the OSIRIS instrument. Using tuneable filters we observed a total of five transits, three of which were observed at two wavelengths nearly simultaneously, producing a total of eight individual light curves, six of these probed the possible existence of a methane absorption feature in the 8770 - 8850 Å region at high resolution. We detect no increase in the planet-to-star radius ratio across the methane feature with a change in radius ratio of $Δ$R = -0.0007 $\pm$ 0.0017 corresponding to a scale height (H) change of -0.5 $\pm$ 1.2 H across the methane feature, assuming a hydrogen dominated atmosphere. We find a variety of water and cloudy atmospheric models fit the data well, but find that cloud-free models provide poor fits. These observations support a flat transmission spectrum resulting from the presence of a high-altitude haze or a water-rich atmosphere, in agreement with previous studies. In this study the observations are predominantly limited by the photometric quality and the limited number of data points (resulting from a long observing cadence), which make the determination of the systematic noise challenging. With tuneable filters capable of high resolution measurements (R ~ 600 - 750) of narrow absorption features, the interpretation of our results are also limited by the absence of high resolution methane models below 1 $μ$m.

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Magnesium in the atmosphere of the planet HD209458b: Observations of the thermosphere-exosphere transition region

We report new near ultraviolet HST/STIS observations of atmospheric absorptions during the planetary transit of HD209458b. We detect absorption in atomic magnesium (MgI), while no signal has been detected in the lines of singly ionized magnesium (MgII). We measure the MgI atmospheric absorption to be 6.2+/-2.9% in the velocity range from -62 to -19 km/s. The detection of atomic magnesium in the planetary upper atmosphere at a distance of several planetary radii gives a first view into the transition region between the thermosphere and the exobase, where atmospheric escape takes place. We estimate the electronic densities needed to compensate for the photo-ionization by dielectronic recombination of Mg+ to be in the range of 10^8-10^9 cm^{-3}. Our finding is in excellent agreement with model predictions at altitudes of several planetary radii. We observe MgI atoms escaping the planet, with a maximum radial velocity (in the stellar rest frame) of -60 km/s. Because magnesium is much heavier than hydrogen, the escape of this species confirms previous studies that the planet's atmosphere is undergoing hydrodynamic escape. We compare our observations to a numerical model that takes the stellar radiation pressure on the MgI atoms into account. We find that the MgI atoms must be present at up to ~7.5 planetari radii altitude and estimate an MgI escape rate of ~3x10^7 g/s. Compared to previous evaluations of the escape rate of HI atoms, this evaluation is compatible with a magnesium abundance roughly solar. A hint of absorption, detected at low level of significance, during the post-transit observations, could be interpreted as a MgI cometary-like tail. If true, the estimate of the absorption by MgI would be increased to a higher value of about 8.8+/-2.1%.

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HST hot Jupiter Transmission Spectral Survey: A detection of Na and strong optical absorption in HAT-P-1b

We present an optical to near-infrared transmission spectrum of the hot Jupiter HAT-P-1b, based on HST observations, covering the spectral regime from 0.29 to 1.027μm with STIS, which is coupled with a recent WFC3 transit (1.087 to 1.687μm). We derive refined physical parameters of the HAT-P-1 system, including an improved orbital ephemeris. The transmission spectrum shows a strong absorption signature shortward of 0.55μm, with a strong blueward slope into the near-ultraviolet. We detect atmospheric sodium absorption at a 3.3σ significance level, but find no evidence for the potassium feature. The red data implies a marginally flat spectrum with a tentative absorption enhancement at wavelength longer than ~0.85μm. The STIS and WFC3 spectra differ significantly in absolute radius level (4.3 +/- 1.6 pressure scale heights), implying strong optical absorption in the atmosphere of HAT-P-1b. The optical to near-infrared difference cannot be explained by stellar activity, as simulta- neous stellar activity monitoring of the G0V HAT-P-1b host star and its identical companion show no significant activity that could explain the result. We compare the complete STIS and WFC3 transmission spectrum with theoretical atmospheric mod- els which include haze, sodium and an extra optical absorber. We find that both an optical absorber and a super-solar sodium to water abundance ratio might be a sce- nario explaining the HAT-P-1b observations. Our results suggest that strong optical absorbers may be a dominant atmospheric feature in some hot Jupiter exoplanets.

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HST hot Jupiter transmission spectral survey: evidence for aerosols and lack of TiO in the atmosphere of WASP-12b

We present HST optical transmission spectra of the transiting hot Jupiter WASP-12b, taken with the STIS instrument. From the transmission spectra, we are able to decisively rule out prominent absorption by TiO in the exoplanet's atmosphere. Strong pressure-broadened Na and K absorption signatures are also excluded, as are significant metal-hydride features. We compare our combined broadband spectrum to a wide variety of existing aerosol-free atmospheric models, though none are satisfactory fits. However, we do find that the full transmission spectrum can be described by models which include significant opacity from aerosols: including Rayleigh scattering, Mie scattering, tholin haze, and settling dust profiles. The transmission spectrum follows an effective extinction cross section with a power-law of index alpha, with the slope of the transmission spectrum constraining the quantity alphaT = -3528+/-660 K, where T is the atmospheric temperature. Rayleigh scattering (alpha=-4) is among the best fitting models, though requires low terminator temperatures near 900 K. Sub-micron size aerosol particles can provide equally good fits to the entire transmission spectrum for a wide range of temperatures, and we explore corundum as a plausible dust aerosol. The presence of atmospheric aerosols also helps to explain the modestly bright albedo implied by Spitzer observations, as well as the near black body nature of the emission spectrum. Ti-bearing condensates on the cooler night-side is the most natural explanation for the overall lack of TiO signatures in WASP-12b, indicating the day/night cold-trap is an important effect for very hot Jupiters. These finding indicate that aerosols can play a significant atmospheric role for the entire wide range of hot-Jupiter atmospheres, potentially affecting their overall spectrum and energy balance.(abridged)

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Hubble Space Telescope hot Jupiter Transmission Spectral Survey: detection of water in HAT-P-1b from Wide Field Camera 3 near-infrared spatial scan observations

We present Hubble Space Telescope near-infrared transmission spectroscopy of the transiting hot-Jupiter HAT-P-1b. We observed one transit with Wide Field Camera 3 using the G141 low-resolution grism to cover the wavelength range 1.087- 1.678 μm. These time series observations were taken with the newly available spatial scan mode that increases the duty cycle by nearly a factor of two, thus improving the resulting photometric precision of the data. We measure a planet-to-star radius ratio of Rp/R*=0.11709+/-0.00038 in the white light curve with the centre of transit occurring at 2456114.345+/-0.000133 (JD). We achieve S/N levels per exposure of 1840 (0.061%) at a resolution of {Δλ}=19.2nm (R~70) in the 1.1173 - 1.6549μm spectral region, providing the precision necessary to probe the transmission spectrum of the planet at close to the resolution limit of the instrument. We compute the transmission spectrum using both single target and differential photometry with similar results. The resultant transmission spectrum shows a significant absorption above the 5-σ level matching the 1.4μm water absorption band. In solar composition models, the water absorption is sensitive to the ~1 mbar pressure levels at the terminator. The detected absorption agrees with that predicted by an 1000 K isothermal model, as well as with that predicted by a planetary-averaged temperature model.

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An HST Optical to Near-IR Transmission Spectrum of the Hot Jupiter WASP-19b: Detection of Atmospheric Water and Likely Absence of TiO

We measure the transmission spectrum of WASP-19b from 3 transits using low-resolution optical spectroscopy from the HST Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS). The STIS spectra cover a wavelength range of 0.29-1.03 microns with resolving power R=500. The optical data are combined with archival near-IR data from the HST Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) G141 grism, covering the wavelength range 1.087-1.687 micron, with resolving power R=130. We obtain the transmission spectrum from 0.53-1.687 microns with S/N levels between 3000 and 11,000 in 0.1 micron bins. WASP-19 is a very active star, with optical stellar flux varying by a few per cent over time. We correct the transit light curves for the effects of stellar activity using ground-based activity monitoring with the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO). While we were not able to construct a transmission spectrum using the blue optical data due to the presence of large occulted star spots, we were able to use the spot crossings to help constrain the mean stellar spot temperature. To search for predicted features in the hot-Jupiter atmosphere, we also define spectral indices for differential radius measurements to specifically search for the presence of TiO and alkali line features. Our measurements rule out TiO features predicted for a planet of WASP-19b's equilibrium temperature (2050 K) in the transmission spectrum at the 2.7-2.9 sigma confidence level, depending on atmospheric model formalism. The WFC3 transmission spectrum shows strong absorption features due to the presence of H2O, which is detected at the 4 sigma confidence level between 1.1 and 1.4 microns. The results indicate that WASP-19b is a planet with no or low levels of TiO and without a high C/O ratio. The lack of observable TiO features are possibly due to rainout, breakdown from stellar activity or the presence of other absorbers in the optical.

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Hint of 150 MHz radio emission from the Neptune-mass extrasolar transiting planet HAT-P-11b

Since the radio-frequency emission from planets is expected to be strongly influenced by their interaction with the magnetic field and corona of the host star, the physics of this process can be effectively constrained by making sensitive measurements of the planetary radio emission. Up to now, however, numerous searches for radio emission from extrasolar planets at radio wavelengths have only yielded negative results. Here we report deep radio observations of the nearby Neptune-mass extrasolar transiting planet HAT-P-11b at 150 MHz, using the Giant Meterwave Radio Telescope (GMRT). On July 16, 2009, we detected a 3-sigma emission whose light curve is consistent with an eclipse when the planet passed behind the star. This emission is at a position 14 arcsec from the transiting exoplanet's coordinates; thus, with a synthetized beam of FWHM~16 arcsec, the position uncertainty of this weak radio signal encompasses the location of HAT-P-11. We estimate a 5% false positive probability that the observed radio light curve mimics the planet's eclipse light curve. If the faint signature is indeed a radio eclipse event associated with the planet, then its flux would be 3.87 mJy +/- 1.29 mJy at 150 MHz. However, our equally sensitive repeat observations of the system on November 17, 2010 did not detect a significant signal in the radio light curve near the same position. This lack of confirmation leaves us with the possibility of either a variable planetary emission, or a chance occurrence of a false positive signal in our first observation. Deeper observations are required to confirm this hint of 150 MHz radio emission from HAT-P-11b.

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GTC OSIRIS transiting exoplanet atmospheric survey: detection of sodium in XO-2b from differential long-slit spectroscopy

We present two transits of the hot-Jupiter exoplanet XO-2b using the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC). The time series observations were performed using long-slit spectroscopy of XO-2 and a nearby reference star with the OSIRIS instrument, enabling differential specrophotometric transit lightcurves capable of measuring the exoplanet's transmission spectrum. Two optical low-resolution grisms were used to cover the optical wavelength range from 3800 to 9300Å. We find that sub-mmag level slit losses between the target and reference star prevent full optical transmission spectra from being constructed, limiting our analysis to differential absorption depths over ~1000Å regions. Wider long slits or multi-object grism spectroscopy with wide masks will likely prove effective in minimising the observed slit-loss trends. During both transits, we detect significant absorption in the planetary atmosphere of XO-2b using a 50Å bandpass centred on the Na I doublet, with absorption depths of Delta(R_pl/R_star)^2=0.049+/-0.017 % using the R500R grism and 0.047+/-0.011 % using the R500B grism (combined 5.2-sigma significance from both transits). The sodium feature is unresolved in our low-resolution spectra, with detailed modelling also likely ruling out significant line-wing absorption over an ~800Å region surrounding the doublet. Combined with narrowband photometric measurements, XO-2b is the first hot Jupiter with evidence for both sodium and potassium present in the planet's atmosphere.

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Temporal variations in the evaporating atmosphere of the exoplanet HD 189733b

Atmospheric escape has been detected from the exoplanet HD 209458b through transit observations of the hydrogen Lyman-alpha line. Here we present spectrally resolved Lyman-alpha transit observations of the exoplanet HD 189733b at two different epochs. These HST/STIS observations show for the first time, that there are significant temporal variations in the physical conditions of an evaporating planetary atmosphere. While atmospheric hydrogen is not detected in the first epoch observations, it is observed at the second epoch, producing a transit absorption depth of 14.4+/-3.6% between velocities of -230 to -140 km/s. Contrary to HD 209458b, these high velocities cannot arise from radiation pressure alone and require an additional acceleration mechanism, such as interactions with stellar wind protons. The observed absorption can be explained by an atmospheric escape rate of neutral hydrogen atoms of about 10^9 g/s, a stellar wind with a velocity of 190 km/s and a temperature of ~10^5K. An X-ray flare from the active star seen with Swift/XRT 8 hours before the second-epoch observation supports the idea that the observed changes within the upper atmosphere of the planet can be caused by variations in the stellar wind properties, or by variations in the stellar energy input to the planetary escaping gas (or a mix of the two effects). These observations provide the first indication of interaction between the exoplanet's atmosphere and stellar variations.

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Evaporation of extrasolar planets

This article presents a review on the observations and theoretical modeling of the evaporation of extrasolar planets. The observations and the resulting constraints on the upper atmosphere (thermosphere and exosphere) of the "hot-Jupiters". are described. The early observations of the first discovered transiting extrasolar planet, HD209458b, allowed the discovery that this planet has an extended atmosphere of escaping hydrogen. Subsequent observations showed the presence of oxygen and carbon at very high altitude. These observations give unique constraints on the escape rate and mechanism in the atmosphere of hot-Jupiters. The most recent Lyman-alpha HST observations of HD189733b and MgII observations of Wasp-12b allow for the first time comparison of the evaporation from different planets in different environments. Models to quantify the escape rate from the measured occultation depths, and an energy diagram to describe the evaporation state of hot-Jupiters are presented. Using this diagram, it is shown that few already known planets like GJ876d or CoRot-7b could be remnants of formerly giant planets.

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GMRT search for 150 MHz radio emission from the transiting extrasolar planets HD189733b and HD209458b

We report a sensitive search for meter-wavelength emission at 150 MHz from two prominent transiting extrasolar planets, HD189733b and HD209458b. To distinguish any planetary emission from possible stellar or background contributions, we monitored these systems just prior to, during, and after the planet's eclipse behind the host star. No emission was detected from HD209458b with a 3-sigma upper limit of 3.6 mJy. For HD189733b we obtain a 3-sigma upper limit of 2.1 mJy and a marginal 2.7-sigma detection of about 1.9+/-0.7 mJy from a direction just 13" from the star's coordinates (i.e., within the beam), but its association with the planet remains unconfirmed. Thus, the present GMRT observations provide unprecedentedly tight upper limits for meter wavelengths emissions from these nearest two transiting type exoplanets. We point out possible explanations of the non-detections and briefly discuss the resulting constraints on these systems.

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Hubble Space Telescope Transmission Spectroscopy of the Exoplanet HD 189733b: High-altitude atmospheric haze in the optical and near-UV with STIS

We present Hubble Space Telescope optical and near-ultraviolet transmission spectra of the transiting hot-Jupiter HD189733b, taken with the repaired Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) instrument. The resulting spectra cover the range 2900-5700 Ang and reach per-exposure signal-to-noise levels greater than 11,000 within a 500 Ang bandwidth. We used time series spectra obtained during two transit events to determine the wavelength dependance of the planetary radius and measure the exoplanet's atmospheric transmission spectrum for the first time over this wavelength range. Our measurements, in conjunction with existing HST spectra, now provide a broadband transmission spectrum covering the full optical regime. The STIS data also shows unambiguous evidence of a large occulted stellar spot during one of our transit events, which we use to place constraints on the characteristics of the K dwarf's stellar spots, estimating spot temperatures around Teff~4250 K. With contemporaneous ground-based photometric monitoring of the stellar variability, we also measure the correlation between the stellar activity level and transit-measured planet-to-star radius contrast, which is in good agreement with predictions. We find a planetary transmission spectrum in good agreement with that of Rayleigh scattering from a high-altitude atmospheric haze as previously found from HST ACS camera. The high-altitude haze is now found to cover the entire optical regime and is well characterised by Rayleigh scattering. These findings suggest that haze may be a globally dominant atmospheric feature of the planet which would result in a high optical albedo at shorter optical wavelengths.

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The upper atmosphere of the exoplanet HD209458b revealed by the sodium D lines: Temperature-pressure profile, ionization layer, and thermosphere

A complete reassessment of the HST observations of the transits of the extrasolar planet HD209458b has provided a transmission spectrum of the atmosphere over a wide range of wavelengths. Analysis of the NaI absorption line profile has already shown that the sodium abundance has to drop by at least a factor of ten above a critical altitude. Here we analyze the profile in the deep core of the NaI doublet line from HST and high-resolution ground-based spectra to further constrain the vertical structure of the HD209458b atmosphere. With a wavelength-dependent cross section that spans more than 5 orders of magnitude, we use the absorption signature of the NaI doublet as an atmospheric probe. The NaI transmission features are shown to sample the atmosphere of HD209458b over an altitude range of more than 6500km, corresponding to a pressure range of 14 scale heights spanning 1 millibar to 1e-9 bar pressures. By comparing the observations with a multi-layer model in which temperature is a free parameter at the resolution of the atmospheric scale height, we constrain the temperature vertical profile and variations in the Na abundance in the upper part of the atmosphere of HD209458b. We find a rise in temperature above the drop in sodium abundance at the 3mbar level. We also identify an isothermal atmospheric layer at 1500+/-100K spanning almost 6 scale heights in altitude, from 1e-5 to 1e-7 bar. Above this layer, the temperature rises again to 2500(+1500/-1000)K at 1e-9 bar, indicating the presence of a thermosphere. The resulting temperature-pressure (T-P) profile agrees with the Na condensation scenario at the 3 mbar level, with a possible signature of sodium ionization at higher altitudes, near the 3e-5 bar level. Our T-P profile is found to be in good agreement with the profiles obtained with aeronomical models including hydrodynamic escape.

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Gran Telescopio Canarias OSIRIS Transiting Exoplanet Atmospheric Survey: Detection of potassium in XO-2b from narrowband spectrophotometry

We present Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) optical transit narrow-band photometry of the hot-Jupiter exoplanet XO-2b using the OSIRIS instrument. This unique instrument has the capabilities to deliver high cadence narrow-band photometric lightcurves, allowing us to probe the atmospheric composition of hot Jupiters from the ground. The observations were taken during three transit events which cover four wavelengths at spectral resolutions near 500, necessary for observing atmospheric features, and have near-photon limited sub-mmag precisions. Precision narrow-band photometry on a large aperture telescope allows for atmospheric transmission spectral features to be observed for exoplanets around much fainter stars than those of the well studied targets HD209458b and HD189733b, providing access to the majority of known transiting planets. For XO-2b, we measure planet-to-star radius contrasts of R_pl/R_star=0.10508+/-0.00052 at 6792 Ang, 0.10640+/-0.00058 at 7582 Ang, and 0.10686+/-0.00060 at 7664.9 Ang, and 0.10362+/-0.00051 at 8839 Ang. These measurements reveal significant spectral features at two wavelengths, with an absorption level of 0.067+/-0.016% at 7664.9 Ang due to atmospheric potassium in the line core (a 4.1-sigma significance level), and an absorption level of 0.058+/-0.016% at 7582 Ang, (a 3.6-sigma significance level). When comparing our measurements to hot-Jupiter atmospheric models, we find good agreement with models which are dominated in the optical by alkali metals. This is the first evidence for potassium in an extrasolar planet, an element that has long been theorized along with sodium to be a dominant source of opacity at optical wavelengths for hot Jupiters.

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Transit spectrophotometry of the exoplanet HD189733b. II. New Spitzer observations at 3.6 microns

We present a new primary transit observation of the hot-jupiter HD189733b, obtained at 3.6 microns with the Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) onboard the Spitzer Space Telescope. Previous measurements at 3.6 microns suffered from strong systematics and conclusions could hardly be obtained with confidence on the water detection by comparison of the 3.6 and 5.8 microns observations. We use a high S/N Spitzer photometric transit light curve to improve the precision of the near infrared radius of the planet at 3.6 microns. The observation has been performed using high-cadence time series integrated in the subarray mode. We are able to derive accurate system parameters, including planet-to-star radius ratio, impact parameter, scale of the system, and central time of the transit from the fits of the transit light curve. We compare the results with transmission spectroscopic models and with results from previous observations at the same wavelength. We obtained the following system parameters: R_p/R_\star=0.15566+0.00011-0.00024, b=0.661+0.0053-0.0050, and a/R_\star=8.925+0.0490-0.0523 at 3.6 microns. These measurements are three times more accurate than previous studies at this wavelength because they benefit from greater observational efficiency and less statistic and systematic errors. Nonetheless, we find that the radius ratio has to be corrected for stellar activity and present a method to do so using ground-based long-duration photometric follow-up in the V-band. The resulting planet-to-star radius ratio corrected for the stellar variability is in agreement with the previous measurement obtained in the same bandpass (Desert et al. 2009). We also discuss that water vapour could not be evidenced by comparison of the planetary radius measured at 3.6 and 5.8 microns, because the radius measured at 3.6 microns is affected by absorption by other species, possibly Rayleigh scattering by haze.

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Observation of the full 12-hour-long transit of the exoplanet HD80606b. Warm-Spitzer photometry and SOPHIE spectroscopy

We present new observations of a transit of the 111-day-period exoplanet HD80606b. Using the Spitzer Space Telescope and its IRAC camera on the post-cryogenic mission, we performed a 19-hour-long photometric observation of HD80606 that covers the full transit of 13-14 January 2010. We complement this photometric data by new spectroscopic observations that we simultaneously performed with SOPHIE at Haute-Provence Observatory. This provides radial velocity measurements of the first half of the transit that was previously uncovered with spectroscopy. This new data set allows the parameters of this singular planetary system to be significantly refined. We obtained a planet-to-star radius ratio R_p/R_* = 0.1001 +/- 0.0006 that is slightly lower than the one measured from previous ground observations. We detected a feature in the Spitzer light curve that could be due to a stellar spot. We also found a transit timing about 20 minutes earlier than the ephemeris prediction; this could be caused by actual TTVs due to an additional body in the system or by underestimated systematic uncertainties. The sky-projected angle between the spin-axis of HD80606 and the normal to the planetary orbital plane is found to be lambda = 42 +/- 8 degrees thanks to the fit of the Rossiter-McLaughlin anomaly. This allows scenarios with aligned spin-orbit to be definitively rejected. Over the twenty planetary systems with measured spin-orbit angles, a few of them are misaligned; this is probably the signature of two different evolution scenarios for misaligned and aligned systems, depending if they experienced or not gravitational interaction with a third body. As in the case of HD80606b, most of the planetary systems including a massive planet are tilted; this could be the signature of a separate evolution scenario for massive planets in comparison with Jupiter-mass planets.

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