Atmospheric characterization of the hot Jupiter Kepler-13Ab
- Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States)
- ELTE Gothard Astrophysical Observatory, H-9704 Szombathely, Szent Imre herceg út 112 (Hungary)
- Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, 525 Davey Laboratory, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802 (United States)
- Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544 (United States)
- Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 (United States)
- Department of Astronomy, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195 (United States)
- Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics and Department of Physics and Astronomy, Northwestern University, 2131 Tech Drive, Evanston, IL 60208 (United States)
- CASA, Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences, University of Colorado, 389-UCB, Boulder, CO 80309 (United States)
- Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, HI 96822 (United States)
- University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States)
- Department of Planetary Sciences and Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721 (United States)
- Institute for Astronomy, ETH Zürich, Wolfgang-Pauli-Strasse 27, 8093 Zürich (Switzerland)
Kepler-13Ab (= KOI-13.01) is a unique transiting hot Jupiter. It is one of very few known short-period planets orbiting a hot A-type star, making it one of the hottest planets currently known. The availability of Kepler data allows us to measure the planet's occultation (secondary eclipse) and phase curve in the optical, which we combine with occultations observed by warm Spitzer at 4.5 μm and 3.6 μm and a ground-based occultation observation in the K{sub s} band (2.1 μm). We derive a day-side hemisphere temperature of 2750 ± 160 K as the effective temperature of a black body showing the same occultation depths. Comparing the occultation depths with one-dimensional planetary atmosphere models suggests the presence of an atmospheric temperature inversion. Our analysis shows evidence for a relatively high geometric albedo, A {sub g} = 0.33{sub −0.06}{sup +0.04}. While measured with a simplistic method, a high A {sub g} is supported also by the fact that the one-dimensional atmosphere models underestimate the occultation depth in the optical. We use stellar spectra to determine the dilution, in the four wide bands where occultation was measured, due to the visual stellar binary companion 1.''15 ± 0.''05 away. The revised stellar parameters measured using these spectra are combined with other measurements, leading to revised planetary mass and radius estimates of M{sub p} = 4.94-8.09 M {sub J} and R{sub p} = 1.406 ± 0.038 R {sub J}. Finally, we measure a Kepler midoccultation time that is 34.0 ± 6.9 s earlier than expected based on the midtransit time and the delay due to light-travel time and discuss possible scenarios.
- OSTI ID:
- 22356633
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 788, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Evidence for Atmospheric Cold-trap Processes in the Noninverted Emission Spectrum of Kepler-13Ab Using HST /WFC3
MEASUREMENT OF THE SPIN-ORBIT MISALIGNMENT OF KOI-13.01 FROM ITS GRAVITY-DARKENED KEPLER TRANSIT LIGHT CURVE