Mining the Ultrahot Skies of HAT-P-70b: Detection of a Profusion of Neutral and Ionized Species
Abstract
With an equilibrium temperature above 2500 K, the recently discovered HAT-P-70b belongs to a new class of exoplanets known as ultrahot Jupiters: extremely irradiated gas giants with day-side temperatures that resemble those found in stars. These ultrahot Jupiters are among the most amenable targets for follow-up atmospheric characterization through transmission spectroscopy. Here, we present the first analysis of the transmission spectrum of HAT-P-70b using high-resolution data from the HARPS-N spectrograph of a single-transit event. We use a cross-correlation analysis and transmission spectroscopy to look for atomic and molecular species in the planetary atmosphere. We detect absorption by Ca II, Cr I, Cr II, Fe I, Fe II, H I, Mg I, Na I, and V I, and we find tentative evidence of Ca I and Ti II. Overall, these signals appear blueshifted by a few km s-1, suggestive of winds flowing at high velocity from the day side to the night side. We individually resolve the Ca II H and K lines, the Na I doublet, and the Hα, Hβ, and Hγ Balmer lines. The cores of the Ca II and H I lines form well above the continuum, indicating the existence of an extended envelope. We refine the obliquity of this highly misaligned planet to ${107.9}_{-1.7}^{+2.0}$ degrees by examining the Doppler shadow that the planet casts on its A-type host star. These results place HAT-P-70b as one of the exoplanets with the highest number of species detected in its atmosphere.
- Publication:
-
The Astronomical Journal
- Pub Date:
- February 2022
- DOI:
- arXiv:
- arXiv:2112.03292
- Bibcode:
- 2022AJ....163...96B
- Keywords:
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- 486;
- 753;
- 498;
- 2021;
- 487;
- 2096;
- 2133;
- 509;
- 2172;
- Astrophysics - Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- 17 pages, 10 figures, accepted to AJ