Discovery of water at high spectral resolution in the atmosphere of 51 Peg b

Journal article

We report the detection of water absorption features in the day side spectrum of the first-known hot Jupiter, 51 Peg b, confirming the star–planet system to be a double-lined spectroscopic binary. We use high-resolution ($R\approx $ 100,000), $3.2\,\mu {\rm{m}}$ spectra taken with CRIRES/VLT to trace the radial-velocity shift of the water features in the planet's day side atmosphere during 4 hr of its 4.23 day orbit after superior conjunction. We detect the signature of molecular absorption by water at a significance of $5.6\sigma $ at a systemic velocity of ${V}_{\mathrm{sys}}=-33\pm 2$ km s−1, coincident with the 51 Peg host star, with a corresponding orbital velocity ${K}_{{\rm{P}}}={133}_{-3.5}^{+4.3}$ km s−1. This translates directly to a planet mass of ${M}_{{\rm{p}}}={0.476}_{-0.031}^{+0.032}\,{M}_{{\rm{J}}}$, placing it at the transition boundary between Jovian and Neptunian worlds. We determine upper and lower limits on the orbital inclination of the system of $70^\circ \lt i\lt 82\buildrel{\circ}\over{.} 2$. We also provide an updated orbital solution for 51 Peg b, using an extensive set of 639 stellar radial velocities measured between 1994 and 2013, finding no significant evidence of an eccentric orbit. We find no evidence of significant absorption or emission from other major carbon-bearing molecules of the planet, including methane and carbon dioxide. The atmosphere is non-inverted in the temperature–pressure region probed by these observations. The deepest absorption lines reach an observed relative contrast of $0.9\times {10}^{-3}$ with respect to the host star continuum flux at an angular separation of 3 milliarcseconds. This work is consistent with a previous tentative report of K-band molecular absorption for 51 Peg b by Brogi et al.

Authors: Birkby, JL; de Kok, RJ; Brogi, M; Schwarz, H; Snellen, IAG

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: American Astronomical Society
• Journal: Astronomical Journal
• Volume: 153
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 138-138
• Publication date: 2017-03-02
• Acceptance date: 2017-01-24
• DOI: 10.3847/1538-3881/aa5c87
• EISSN: 1538-3881
• ISSN: 0004-6256
• Language: English
• Keywords: FFR