Ground-based observations of exoplanet atmospheres
Mooij, E.J.W. de
Citation
Mooij, E. J. W. de. (2011, September 28). Ground-based observations of exoplanet atmospheres. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/1887/17878
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Ground-based Observations of
Exoplanet Atmospheres
Ground-based Observations of
Exoplanet Atmospheres
Proefschrift
ter verkrijging van
de graad van Doctor aan de Universiteit Leiden,
op gezag van de Rector Magnificus prof. mr. P.F. van der Heijden, volgens besluit van het College voor Promoties
te verdedigen op woensdag 28 september 2011 klokke 11.15 uur
door
Ernst Johan Walter de Mooij
geboren te ’s-Gravenhage in 1983
Promotiecommissie
Promotor: Prof. dr. K. H. Kuijken Co-promotor: Dr. I. A. G. Snellen
Overige leden: Dr. M. Lopez-Morales (Institute for Space Science, Spain)
Dr. R. J. de Kok (Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Utrecht) Prof. dr. M. Fridlund
Dr. M. A. Kenworthy Prof. dr. H. V. J. Linnartz Prof. dr. E. F. van Dishoeck
Voor mijn ouders
Cover image: Night-time on La Palma. This photo was taken during a night with full moon from the south balcony of the Isaac Newton Telescope. The telescope domes seen in this image are the William Herschel Telescope (back cover), The Liverpool Telescope (left on front cover) and the Mercator Tele- scope (right on front cover). On the front cover, both Mars and part of the con- stellation Leo are visible, including γ1Leonis (Algieba), which hosts a planet.
Contents vii
Contents
Page
Chapter 1. Introduction 1
1.1 Discovering exoplanets . . . 1
1.2 Studying atmospheres of transiting exoplanets . . . 3
1.3 Hot Jupiter atmospheres . . . 6
1.3.1 The atmospheric temperature structure . . . 6
1.3.2 Inversion layers in hot Jupiter atmospheres . . . 7
1.4 Observing tool: high precision photometry . . . 8
1.5 GROUnd-based Secondary Eclipse project (GROUSE) . . . 10
1.6 This thesis . . . 11
1.7 Outlook . . . 12
Chapter 2. The GROUSE project I: Ground-based detection of emission from TrES-3b 15 2.1 Introduction . . . 16
2.2 Observations, data reduction and analysis . . . 16
2.2.1 The transit of TrES-3b . . . 16
2.2.2 The secondary eclipse of TrES-3b . . . 19
2.3 Results and discussion . . . 20
2.3.1 The transit of TrES-3b . . . 20
2.3.2 The secondary eclipse of TrES-3b . . . 22
2.4 Conclusions . . . 23
Chapter 3. The GROUSE project II: The secondary eclipse of HAT-P-1b 25 3.1 Introduction . . . 26
3.2 Observations, data reduction and analysis . . . 27
3.2.1 Crosstalk, non-linearity corrections and flat-fielding . . . 28
3.2.2 Removal of bad-pixels . . . 28
3.2.3 Background subtraction . . . 28
3.2.4 Diffraction spokes from the secondary mirror support . . . 29
3.2.5 Aperture Photometry . . . 29
3.2.6 Correction for systematic effects . . . 31
3.3 Results . . . 32
3.3.1 Atmospheric models . . . 33
3.4 Conclusion . . . 37
Chapter 4. The GROUSE project III: The secondary eclipse of WASP-33b 39 4.1 Introduction . . . 40
4.2 Observations and data reduction . . . 41
4.2.1 Observations . . . 41
viii Contents
4.2.2 Data reduction . . . 43
4.3 Correction for systematic effects and stellar pulsations . . . 43
4.3.1 Stellar pulsations . . . 43
4.3.2 Light curve fitting . . . 45
4.4 Results and discussion . . . 53
4.4.1 A low albedo and rapid re-radiation of incident light . . . 53
4.5 Conclusion . . . 55
Chapter 5. Transmission spectroscopy of GJ1214b 57 5.1 Introduction . . . 58
5.2 Observations . . . 60
5.2.1 WFC observations . . . 60
5.2.2 GROND griz-band observations . . . 60
5.2.3 NOTCam Ks-band observations . . . 60
5.2.4 LIRIS Kc-band observations . . . 61
5.3 Data reduction . . . 61
5.3.1 Optical data . . . 61
5.3.2 Near-infrared data . . . 64
5.4 Transit fitting . . . 65
5.4.1 Optical transits . . . 65
5.4.2 Near-infrared transits . . . 66
5.5 Stellar variability . . . 67
5.5.1 Correcting for the stellar variability . . . 69
5.6 Discussion . . . 70
5.6.1 The transmission spectrum of GJ1214b . . . 70
5.6.2 Atmospheric models . . . 70
5.6.3 Comparison with previous measurements . . . 71
5.6.4 The impact of unocculted starspots . . . 74
5.7 Conclusions . . . 75
Chapter 6. An ensemble study of the day-side spectra of hot Jupiters 79 6.1 Introduction . . . 80
6.2 Data . . . 81
6.2.1 Secondary eclipse measurements . . . 81
6.2.2 System parameters . . . 87
6.2.3 Conversion to physical units . . . 87
6.3 Correlations with brightness temperature . . . 93
6.3.1 Relation with incident radiation . . . 93
6.3.2 Relation with stellar activity . . . 93
6.4 The average emission spectrum of a hot Jupiter . . . 98
6.5 Atmosphere models . . . 101
6.6 Discussion . . . 104
6.6.1 The effective temperatures of hot Jupiters . . . 104
6.6.2 Stellar activity and the presence of an inversion layer . . . 105
6.7 Conclusion . . . 107
Contents ix
Nederlandse samenvatting 111
Curriculum Vitae 119
Nawoord 121
