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Planets In Transit: The Shadow Knows!. David Charbonneau California Institute of Technology www.astro.caltech.edu/~dc. STScI May Symposium – 3 May 2004. Overview: Transits and Atmospheres.
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Planets In Transit:The Shadow Knows! David Charbonneau California Institute of Technology www.astro.caltech.edu/~dc STScI May Symposium – 3 May 2004
Overview: Transits and Atmospheres • By making use of the transiting geometry of one system, HST has enabled the first direct studies of an extrasolar planet, including: • Accurate determination of the planetary radius • Searches for planetary moons and rings • Studies of the planetary atmosphere and exosphere • These studies also serve to develop these HST-based techniques, in anticipation of planets yet-to-be-discovered: • Wide-field, ground-based surveys • The Kepler Mission • HST is also being used to search for new transiting planets
Transit Characteristics • Probability pt = Rstar / a = 0.1 • Depth d I / I = (Rpl / Rstar)2 = 0.01 • Period P = 3 – 7 days • Duration t = 3 hours
The First Transiting Planet:HD 209458b • Numerous groups (Henry et al.; Charbonneau et al.; Jha et al.; Deeg et al. ) have presented ground-based photometry (~0.2%) • Uncertainty in Rp is dominated by uncertainty in Rs Charbonneau et al. (2000)
The First Transiting Planet:HD 209458b • Numerous groups (Henry et al.; Charbonneau et al.; Jha et al.; Deeg et al. ) have presented ground-based photometry (~0.2%) • Uncertainty in Rp is dominated by uncertainty in Rs • HST photometry (~0.01%) breaks this degeneracy • Best estimates are: Charbonneau et al. (2000) Brown et al. (2001)
Understanding the Planetary Radii • Radius results from slowing of contraction, not due to “puffing up” (Burrows et al. 2000) • Initial models assumed energy was deposited deep in the atmosphere • “Colder” models require additional energy source • tidal circularization (Bodenheimer et al. 2001) • atmospheric circulation (Showman & Guillot 2002) • Discrepancy is increased if a large planetary core is included Showman & Guillot (2002) Bodenheimer et al. (2001)
FGS Transit Timing • Schultz et al. (2002) have observed several transits with HST Fine Guidance Sensors • FGS provide very rapid cadence (S/N = 80 in 0.025 s) • These data target times of ingress and egress Schultz et al. (2002)
Atmospheric Transmission Spectroscopy • Compare transit depth at various wavelengths (Seager & Sasselov; Hubbard et al.; Brown) • Where strong atmospheric opacity is present, the planet will appear larger, and hence the transit will seem deeper Brown (2001)
Detection of Sodium Absorption • The transit appears deeper by 2.3 x 10-4 when observed at the sodium resonance lines near 589nm • This is ~1/3 the expected value for a cloudless atmosphere with a solar abundance of sodium in atomic form Charbonneau, Brown, Gilliland, & Noyes (2002)
HST/STIS Transmission SpectrumNEAR FUTURE Charbonneau et al. (2002)
New STIS Observations(290 – 1020 nm) Charbonneau, Brown, Gilliland, & Noyes (2003)
Detection of an Evaporating Atmosphere of Hydrogen • Vidal-Madjar et al. (2003) detect a very large (15%) transit depth at Ly a • At this radius, hydrogen atoms are no longer gravitationally bound – planet is losing mass • Liang et al. (2003) model the photochemical processes and determine that photolysis of H2O could result in a concentration of atomic H 3x greater than Jovian atmosphere • More recently, Vidal-Madjar et al. (2004) have claimed a detection of C & O in the exosphere Vidal-Madjar et al. (2003)
NICMOS Search for Water in HD209458b • 3 visits of 5 orbits each; 1st visit has occurred • Search for water features in 1.1 – 1.9 mm bandpass • Orbit-to-orbit sensitivity could reach S/N ~ 36,000 (if instrumental effects can be corrected) Brown (2003) Gilliland (2004)
A Second Transiting Planet:OGLE-TR-56 b • First extrasolar planet discovered by its photometric transit (2 additional OGLE planets have recently been announced) • 1.2 day orbital period • This system is at a much greater distance, hence it is much fainter and follow-up is more difficult • HST/ACS multi-color follow-up in progress to determine accurate planetary radius (Sasselov et al. 2004) • Best ground-based estimates are: Torres et al. (2003)
Sleuth: The Palomar Planet Finder There is only a single known system that is bright enough to study – we need more targets in a hurry to apply these HST-based techniques SLEUTH delivers high-cadence time series photometry on roughly 10,000 stars (9 < V < 15) in a typical field centered on the galactic plane. We obtain sufficient precision on 4,000 stars to detect a close-in Jupiter-sized companion.
The Search Is On:There are roughly a dozen similar wide-field surveys for transiting planets circling bright stars (8 < V < 12) G. Mandushev (Lowell Obs.)
HST Search for Planets in 47 Tuc • 34,000 main-sequence stars were monitored for 8.3 days • Benefit of a cluster: apparent magnitude implies a stellar (and hence planetary) radius • No planets were detected, whereas 17 would have been expected based on radial velocity surveys • Implies that planets cannot form and survive in this environment, likely due to crowding and low-metallicity Gilliland et al. (2000)
New HST Survey Toward Galactic Bulge • Bulge is not affected by low-metallicity or high stellar density • Sahu et al. monitored field in Sgr-I window for 7 days (Feb 2004), with additional epoch in cycle 14 (proper motion) • 100,000 stars to V=23, so several dozen planets could be detected • Possibility of studying planet rate as a function of stellar type and metallicity • Blends that mimic planetary transits are a concern, but effect can be mitigated by 2-color photometry, centroiding, and, for brightest candidates, RV work Sahu et al. (2004)
The Kepler-HST Connection • Kepler will monitor 100,000 stars in a 10 deg square f.o.v. with a precision of better than ~ 5 x 10-5 • Primary goal: Determine the rate of occurrence of terrestrial planets around Sun-like stars • Kepler could uncover dozens of transiting gas giants during the first year of operation: These would be great targets for HST follow-up study • Kepler could uncover dozens of transiting Earth-like planets. HST/STIS would be the only instrument capable of confirming these candidates
Summary: The Future of HST & Transiting Planets • HST enabled the first direct studies of an extrasolar planet, including an accurate determination of the radius, a search for satellites, and a study of the atmosphere • This work allowed the community to develop these HST-based techniques, but we are in need of new targets • We need to encourage the numerous wide-field ground-based surveys to deliver more transiting planets while HST remains available • HST may soon produce transiting planets of its own via the survey of the Galactic bulge • If HST can last into the Kepler Mission timescale, it could enable detailed studies of dozens of gas giant planets (2007), and the confirmation of terrestrial planet candidates (2010)