Constraining Exoplanet Mass from Transmission Spectroscopy
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1401.6181.pdf
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3.96 MB
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Author(s)
de Wit, Julien
Seager, Sara
Date Issued
December 2013
Journal
Science
Publisher
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Citation
de Wit, J., and S. Seager. “Constraining Exoplanet Mass from Transmission Spectroscopy.” Science, vol. 342, no. 6165, Dec. 2013, pp. 1473–77.
Version
Author's final manuscript
Abstract
Determination of an exoplanet's mass is a key to understanding its basic properties, including its potential for supporting life. To date, mass constraints for exoplanets are predominantly based on radial velocity (RV) measurements, which are not suited for planets with low masses, large semimajor axes, or those orbiting faint or active stars. Here, we present a method to extract an exoplanet's mass solely from its transmission spectrum. We find good agreement between the mass retrieved for the hot Jupiter HD 189733b from transmission spectroscopy with that from RV measurements. Our method will be able to retrieve the masses of Earth-sized and super-Earth planets using data from future space telescopes that were initially designed for atmospheric characterization.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics
Terms of Use
Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1126/SCIENCE.1245450
