SYSTEM PARAMETERS, TRANSIT TIMES, AND SECONDARY ECLIPSE CONSTRAINTS OF THE EXOPLANET SYSTEMS HAT-P-4, TrES-2, TrES-3, and WASP-3 FROM THE NASA EPOXI MISSION OF OPPORTUNITY

Journal Article · Mon Jan 10 00:00:00 EST 2011 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/726/2/94· OSTI ID:21567651

Christiansen, Jessie L; Ballard, Sarah; Charbonneau, David; Holman, Matthew J ^[1]; Deming, Drake; Barry, Richard K; Livengood, Timothy A; Hewagama, Tilak ^[2]; Madhusudhan, Nikku; Seager, Sara ^[3]; Wellnitz, Dennis D; A'Hearn, Michael F ^[4]; Hampton, Don L ^[5]

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1. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States)
2. Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States)
3. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02159 (United States)
4. University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742 (United States)
5. University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK 99775 (United States)

As part of the NASA EPOXI Mission of Opportunity, we observed seven known transiting extrasolar planet systems in order to construct time series photometry of extremely high phase coverage and precision. Here we present the results for four 'hot-Jupiter systems' with near-solar stars-HAT-P-4, TrES-3, TrES-2, and WASP-3. We observe 10 transits of HAT-P-4, estimating the planet radius R{sub p} = 1.332 {+-} 0.052 R{sub Jup}, the stellar radius R{sub *} = 1.602 {+-} 0.061 R{sub sun}, the inclination i = 89.67 {+-} 0.30 deg, and the transit duration from first to fourth contact {tau} = 255.6 {+-} 1.9 minutes. For TrES-3, we observe seven transits and find R{sub p} = 1.320 {+-} 0.057 R{sub Jup}, R{sub *} = 0.817 {+-} 0.022 R{sub sun}, i = 81.99 {+-} 0.30 deg, and {tau} = 81.9 {+-} 1.1 minutes. We also note a long-term variability in the TrES-3 light curve, which may be due to star spots. We observe nine transits of TrES-2 and find R{sub p} = 1.169 {+-} 0.034 R{sub Jup}, R{sub *} = 0.940 {+-} 0.026 R{sub sun}, i = 84.15 {+-} 0.16 deg, and {tau} = 107.3 {+-} 1.1 minutes. Finally, we observe eight transits of WASP-3, finding R{sub p} = 1.385 {+-} 0.060 R{sub Jup}, R{sub *} = 1.354 {+-} 0.056 R{sub sun}, i = 84.22 {+-} 0.81 deg, and {tau} = 167.3 {+-} 1.3 minutes. We present refined orbital periods and times of transit for each target. We state 95% confidence upper limits on the secondary eclipse depths in our broadband visible bandpass centered on 650 nm. These limits are 0.073% for HAT-P-4, 0.062% for TrES-3, 0.16% for TrES-2, and 0.11% for WASP-3. We combine the TrES-3 secondary eclipse information with the existing published data and confirm that the atmosphere likely does not have a temperature inversion.

• OSTI ID: 21567651
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 726, Issue 2; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/726/2/94; ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
ECLIPSE
PLANETS
STARS