TY - JOUR
T1 - Ground-based near-UV observations of 15 transiting exoplanets
T2 - Constraints on their atmospheres and no evidence for asymmetrical transits
AU - Turner, Jake D.
AU - Pearson, Kyle A.
AU - Biddle, Lauren I.
AU - Smart, Brianna M.
AU - Zellem, Robert T.
AU - Teske, Johanna K.
AU - Hardegree-Ullman, Kevin K.
AU - Griffith, Caitlin C.
AU - Leiter, Robin M.
AU - Cates, Ian T.
AU - Nieberding, Megan N.
AU - Smith, Carter Thaxton W.
AU - Thompson, Robert M.
AU - Hofmann, Ryan
AU - Berube, Michael P.
AU - Nguyen, Chi H.
AU - Small, Lindsay C.
AU - Guvenen, Blythe C.
AU - Richardson, Logan
AU - McGraw, Allison
AU - Raphael, Brandon
AU - Crawford, Benjamin E.
AU - Robertson, Amy N.
AU - Tombleson, Ryan
AU - Carleton, Timothy M.
AU - Towner, Allison P.M.
AU - Walker-LaFollette, Amanda M.
AU - Hume, Jeffrey R.
AU - Watson, Zachary T.
AU - Jones, Christen K.
AU - Lichtenberger, Matthew J.
AU - Hoglund, Shelby R.
AU - Cook, Kendall L.
AU - Crossen, Cory A.
AU - Jorgensen, Curtis R.
AU - Romine, James M.
AU - Thompson, Alejandro R.
AU - Villegas, Christian F.
AU - Wilson, Ashley A.
AU - Sanford, Brent
AU - Taylor, Joanna M.
AU - Henz, Triana N.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 The Authors.
PY - 2016/6/11
Y1 - 2016/6/11
N2 - Transits of exoplanets observed in the near-UV have been used to study the scattering properties of their atmospheres and possible star-planet interactions. We observed the primary transits of 15 exoplanets (CoRoT-1b, GJ436b, HAT-P-1b, HAT-P-13b, HAT-P-16b, HAT-P-22b, TrES-2b, TrES-4b, WASP-1b, WASP-12b, WASP-33b, WASP-36b, WASP-44b, WASP-48b, and WASP-77Ab) in the near-UV and several optical photometric bands to update their planetary parameters, ephemerides, search for a wavelength dependence in their transit depths to constrain their atmospheres, and determine if asymmetries are visible in their light curves. Here, we present the first ground-based near-UV light curves for 12 of the targets (CoRoT-1b, GJ436b, HAT-P-1b, HAT-P-13b, HAT-P-22b, TrES-2b, TrES-4b, WASP-1b, WASP-33b, WASP-36b, WASP-48b, and WASP-77Ab). We find that none of the near-UV transits exhibit any non-spherical asymmetries, this result is consistent with recent theoretical predictions by Ben-Jaffel et al. and Turner et al. The multiwavelength photometry indicates a constant transit depth from near-UV to optical wavelengths in 10 targets (suggestive of clouds), and a varying transit depth with wavelength in 5 targets (hinting at Rayleigh or aerosol scattering in their atmospheres). We also present the first detection of a smaller near-UV transit depth than that measured in the optical in WASP-1b and a possible opacity source that can cause such radius variations is currently unknown. WASP-36b also exhibits a smaller near-UV transit depth at 2.6σ. Further observations are encouraged to confirm the transit depth variations seen in this study.
AB - Transits of exoplanets observed in the near-UV have been used to study the scattering properties of their atmospheres and possible star-planet interactions. We observed the primary transits of 15 exoplanets (CoRoT-1b, GJ436b, HAT-P-1b, HAT-P-13b, HAT-P-16b, HAT-P-22b, TrES-2b, TrES-4b, WASP-1b, WASP-12b, WASP-33b, WASP-36b, WASP-44b, WASP-48b, and WASP-77Ab) in the near-UV and several optical photometric bands to update their planetary parameters, ephemerides, search for a wavelength dependence in their transit depths to constrain their atmospheres, and determine if asymmetries are visible in their light curves. Here, we present the first ground-based near-UV light curves for 12 of the targets (CoRoT-1b, GJ436b, HAT-P-1b, HAT-P-13b, HAT-P-22b, TrES-2b, TrES-4b, WASP-1b, WASP-33b, WASP-36b, WASP-48b, and WASP-77Ab). We find that none of the near-UV transits exhibit any non-spherical asymmetries, this result is consistent with recent theoretical predictions by Ben-Jaffel et al. and Turner et al. The multiwavelength photometry indicates a constant transit depth from near-UV to optical wavelengths in 10 targets (suggestive of clouds), and a varying transit depth with wavelength in 5 targets (hinting at Rayleigh or aerosol scattering in their atmospheres). We also present the first detection of a smaller near-UV transit depth than that measured in the optical in WASP-1b and a possible opacity source that can cause such radius variations is currently unknown. WASP-36b also exhibits a smaller near-UV transit depth at 2.6σ. Further observations are encouraged to confirm the transit depth variations seen in this study.
KW - Planet-star interactions
KW - Planets and satellites: atmospheres
KW - Techniques: photometric
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U2 - 10.1093/mnras/stw574
DO - 10.1093/mnras/stw574
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84970045559
SN - 0035-8711
VL - 459
SP - 789
EP - 819
JO - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
JF - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
IS - 1
ER -