THE DEEP BLUE COLOR OF HD 189733b: ALBEDO MEASUREMENTS WITH HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE/SPACE TELESCOPE IMAGING SPECTROGRAPH AT VISIBLE WAVELENGTHS
- Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Denys Wilkinson Building, Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3RH (United Kingdom)
- School of Physics, University of Exeter, EX4 4QL Exeter (United Kingdom)
- Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States)
- European Southern Observatory, Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2, D-85748 Garching (Germany)
- University of Bern, Center for Space and Habitability, Sidlerstrasse 5, CH-3012 Bern (Switzerland)
We present a secondary eclipse observation for the hot Jupiter HD 189733b across the wavelength range 290-570 nm made using the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph on the Hubble Space Telescope. We measure geometric albedos of A{sub g} = 0.40 {+-} 0.12 across 290-450 nm and A{sub g} < 0.12 across 450-570 nm at 1{sigma} confidence. The albedo decrease toward longer wavelengths is also apparent when using six wavelength bins over the same wavelength range. This can be interpreted as evidence for optically thick reflective clouds on the dayside hemisphere with sodium absorption suppressing the scattered light signal beyond {approx}450 nm. Our best-fit albedo values imply that HD 189733b would appear a deep blue color at visible wavelengths.
- OSTI ID:
- 22140332
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal Letters, Vol. 772, Issue 2; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 2041-8205
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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