Publications (175)
Transiting Exoplanet Studies and Community Targets for JWST's Early Release Science Program
Kevin B. Stevenson, Nikole K. Lewis, Jacob L. Bean +49
The James Webb Space Telescope will revolutionize transiting exoplanet atmospheric science due to its capability for continuous, long-duration observations and its larger collectin…
Strong HO and CO emission features in the spectrum of KELT-20b driven by stellar UV irradiation
Guangwei Fu, David K. Sing, Joshua D. Lothringer +7
Know thy star, know thy planetary atmosphere. Every exoplanet with atmospheric measurements orbits around a star, and the stellar environment directly affects the planetary atmosph…
Kepler and Ground-based Transits of the Exo-Neptune HAT-P-11b
Drake Deming, Pedro V. Sada, Brian Jackson +6
We analyze 26 archival Kepler transits of the exo-Neptune HAT-P-11b, supplemented by ground-based transits observed in the blue (B-band) and near-IR (J-band). Both the planet and h…
Is the hot, dense sub-Neptune TOI-824b an exposed Neptune mantle? Spitzer detection of the hot day side and reanalysis of the interior composition
Pierre-Alexis Roy, Björn Benneke, Caroline Piaulet +10
The Kepler and TESS missions revealed a remarkable abundance of sub-Neptune exoplanets. Despite this abundance, our understanding of the nature and compositional diversity of sub-N…
A sub-Neptune transiting the young field star HD 18599 at 40 pc
Jerome P. de Leon, John H. Livingston, James S. Jenkins +67
Transiting exoplanets orbiting young nearby stars are ideal laboratories for testing theories of planet formation and evolution. However, to date only a handful of stars with age <…
Possibilities for an Aerial Biosphere in Temperate Sub Neptune-Sized Exoplanet Atmospheres
Sara Seager, Janusz J. Petkowski, Maximilian N. Günther +3
The search for signs of life through the detection of exoplanet atmosphere biosignature gases is gaining momentum. Yet, only a handful of rocky exoplanet atmospheres are suitable f…
Retrievals on NIRCam transmission and emission spectra of HD 189733b with PLATON 6, a GPU code for the JWST era
Michael Zhang, Kimberly Paragas, Jacob L. Bean +5
We present the 2.4--5.0 \um JWST/NIRCam emission spectrum of HD 189733b, along with an independent re-reduction of the previously published transmission spectrum at the same wavele…
TESS Discovery of a Transiting Super-Earth in the Mensae System
Chelsea X. Huang, Jennifer Burt, Andrew Vanderburg +45
We report the detection of a transiting planet around Mensae (HD 39091), using data from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). The solar-type host star is unusuall…
Solar-to-supersolar sodium and oxygen absolute abundances for a "hot Saturn" orbiting a metal-rich star
Nikolay K. Nikolov, David K. Sing, Jessica J. Spake +10
We present new analysis of infrared transmission spectroscopy of the cloud-free hot-Saturn WASP-96b performed with the Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescopes (HST and Spitzer). The WA…
Statistical Characterization of Hot Jupiter Atmospheres using Spitzer's Secondary Eclipses
Emily Garhart, Drake Deming, Avi Mandell +15
We report 78 secondary eclipse depths for a sample of 36 transiting hot Jupiters observed at 3.6- and 4.5 microns using the Spitzer Space Telescope. Our eclipse results for 27 of t…
3.6 and 4.5 m Phase Curves of the Highly-Irradiated Hot Jupiters WASP-19b and HAT-P-7b
Ian Wong, Heather A. Knutson, Tiffany Kataria +15
We analyze full-orbit phase curve observations of the transiting hot Jupiters WASP-19b and HAT-P-7b at 3.6 and 4.5 m obtained using the Spitzer Space Telescope. For WASP-19b, w…
Minimizing Star Spot Contamination of Exoplanet Transit Spectroscopy Using Alternate Normalization
Drake Deming, Miles H. Currie, Victoria S. Meadows +1
Recently, Currie et al. simulated the detection of molecules in the atmospheres of temperate rocky exoplanets transiting nearby M-dwarf stars. They simulated detections via spectra…
Trends in Spitzer Secondary Eclipses
Nicole L. Wallack, Heather A. Knutson, Drake Deming
It is well-established that the magnitude of the incident stellar flux is the single most important factor in determining the day-night temperature gradients and atmospheric chemis…
The TRAPPIST-1 JWST Community Initiative
Michaël Gillon, Victoria Meadows, Eric Agol +10
The upcoming launch of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) combined with the unique features of the TRAPPIST-1 planetary system should enable the young field of exoplanetology to…
A Near-Infrared Transmission Spectrum for the Warm Saturn HAT-P-12b
Michael R. Line, Heather Knutson, Drake Deming +2
We present a HST WFC3 transmission spectrum for the transiting exoplanet HAT-P-12b. This warm (1000 K) sub-Saturn-mass planet has a smaller mass and a lower temperature than the ho…
Infrared Transmission Spectroscopy of the Exoplanets HD209458b and XO-1b Using the Wide Field Camera-3 on the Hubble Space Telescope
Drake Deming, Ashlee Wilkins, Peter McCullough +18
Exoplanetary transmission spectroscopy in the near-infrared using Hubble/NICMOS is currently ambiguous because different observational groups claim different results from the same…
Water Vapour Absorption in the Clear Atmosphere of an exo-Neptune
Jonathan Fraine, Drake Deming, Björn Benneke +6
Transmission spectroscopy to date has detected atomic and molecular absorption in Jupiter-sized exoplanets, but intense efforts to measure molecular absorption in the atmospheres o…
Detection of Thermal Emission from a Super-Earth
Brice-Olivier Demory, Michael Gillon, Sara Seager +3
We report on the detection of infrared light from the super-Earth 55 Cnc e, based on four occultations obtained with Warm Spitzer at 4.5 microns. Our data analysis consists of a tw…
TOI-421 b: A Hot Sub-Neptune with a Haze-Free, Low Mean Molecular Weight Atmosphere
Brian Davenport, Eliza M. -R. Kempton, Matthew C. Nixon +8
Common features of sub-Neptunes atmospheres observed to date include signatures of aerosols at moderate equilibrium temperatures (~500-800 K), and a prevalence of high mean molecul…
Thermal Phase Curves of XO-3b: an Eccentric Hot Jupiter at the Deuterium Burning Limit
Lisa Dang, Taylor J. Bell, Nicolas B. Cowan +15
We report \textit{Spitzer} full-orbit phase observations of the eccentric hot Jupiter XO-3b at 3.6 and 4.5 m. Our new eclipse depth measurements of ppm at 3.6 $Î…
3.8-Micron Photometry During the Secondary Eclipse of the Extrasolar Planet HD 209458b
Drake Deming, L. Jeremy Richardson, Joseph Harrington
We report infrared photometry of the extrasolar planet HD 209458b during the time of secondary eclipse (planet passing behind the star). Observations were acquired during two secon…
Spitzer phase curve observations and circulation models of the inflated ultra-hot Jupiter WASP-76b
Erin M. May, Thaddeus D. Komacek, Kevin B. Stevenson +15
The large radii of many hot Jupiters can only be matched by models that have hot interior adiabats, and recent theoretical work has shown that the interior evolution of hot Jupiter…
A Search for Additional Planets in the NASA EPOXI Observations of the Exoplanet System GJ 436
Sarah Ballard, Jessie L. Christiansen, David Charbonneau +14
We present time series photometry of the M dwarf transiting exoplanet system GJ 436 obtained with the the EPOCh (Extrasolar Planet Observation and Characterization) component of th…
A comparative study of WASP-67b and HAT-P-38b from WFC3 data
Giovanni Bruno, Nikole K. Lewis, Kevin B. Stevenson +12
Atmospheric temperature and planetary gravity are thought to be the main parameters affecting cloud formation in giant exoplanet atmospheres. Recent attempts to understand cloud fo…
A new Search for Carbon Monoxide Absorption in the Transmission Spectrum of the Extrasolar Planet HD 209458b
Drake Deming, Timothy M. Brown, David Charbonneau +2
We have revisited the search for carbon monoxide absorption features in transmission during the transit of the extrasolar planet HD 209458b. We acquired 1077 high resolution spectr…
The Need for Laboratory Measurements and Ab Initio Studies to Aid Understanding of Exoplanetary Atmospheres
Jonathan J. Fortney, Tyler D. Robinson, Shawn Domagal-Goldman +85
We are now on a clear trajectory for improvements in exoplanet observations that will revolutionize our ability to characterize their atmospheric structure, composition, and circul…
Exoplanet Transit Spectroscopy Using WFC3: WASP-12 b, WASP-17 b, and WASP-19 b
Avi Mandell, Korey Haynes, Evan Sinukoff +3
We report analysis of transit spectroscopy of the extrasolar planets WASP-12 b, WASP-17 b, and WASP-19 b using the Wide Field Camera 3 on the HST. We analyze the data for a single…
Kepler-14b: A massive hot Jupiter transiting an F star in a close visual binary
Lars A. Buchhave, David W. Latham, Joshua A. Carter +46
We present the discovery of a hot Jupiter transiting an F star in a close visual (0.3" sky projected angular separation) binary system. The dilution of the host star's light by the…
A Re-appraisal of the Habitability of Planets Around M Dwarf Stars
Jill C. Tarter, Peter R. Backus, Rocco L. Mancinelli +29
Stable, hydrogen-burning, M dwarf stars comprise about 75% of all stars in the Galaxy. They are extremely long-lived and because they are much smaller in mass than the Sun (between…
Searching For Rapid Orbital Decay of WASP-18b
Ashlee N. Wilkins, Laetitia Delrez, Adrian J. Barker +4
The WASP-18 system, with its massive and extremely close-in planet, WASP-18b (M = 10.3M, a = 0.02 AU, P = 22.6 hours), is one of the best known exoplanet laboratories t…
Orbital Phase Variations of the Eccentric Giant Planet HAT-P-2b
Nikole K. Lewis, Heather A. Knutson, Adam P. Showman +20
We present the first secondary eclipse and phase curve observations for the highly eccentric hot Jupiter HAT-P-2b in the 3.6, 4.5, 5.8, and 8.0 μm bands of the Spitzer Space Teles…
Warm Spitzer Photometry of XO-4b, HAT-P-6b and HAT-P-8b
Kamen O. Todorov, Drake Deming, Heather A. Knutson +11
We have analyzed Warm Spitzer/IRAC observations of the secondary eclipses of three planets, XO-4b, HAT-P-6b and HAT-P-8b. We measure secondary eclipse amplitudes at 3.6μm and 4.5΅
K2, Spitzer, and TESS Transits of Four Sub-Neptune Exoplanets
Alison Duck, Caleb K. Harada, Justin Harrell +5
We present new Spitzer transit observations of four K2 transiting sub-Neptunes: K2-36c, K2-79b, K2-167b, and K2-212b. We derive updated orbital ephemerides and radii for these plan…
Spitzer Secondary Eclipses of Qatar-1b
Emily Garhart, Drake Deming, Avi Mandell +2
Previous secondary eclipse observations of the hot Jupiter Qatar-1b in the Ks band suggest that it may have an unusually high day side temperature, indicative of minimal heat redis…
Shoemaker-Levy 9 Impact Modeling: I. High-Resolution 3D Bolides
D. G. Korycansky, Joseph Harrington, Drake Deming +1
We have run high-resolution, three-dimensional, hydrodynamic simulations of the impact of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 into the atmosphere of Jupiter. We find that the energy deposition…
Modeling the day-night temperature variations of ultra-hot Jupiters: confronting non-grey general circulation models and observations
Xianyu Tan, Thaddeus D. Komacek, Natasha E. Batalha +4
Ultra-hot Jupiters (UHJs) are natural laboratories to study extreme physics in planetary atmospheres and their rich observational data sets are yet to be confronted with models wit…
On the Orbit of Exoplanet WASP-12b
Christopher J. Campo, Joseph Harrington, Ryan A. Hardy +17
We observed two secondary eclipses of the exoplanet WASP-12b using the Infrared Array Camera on the Spitzer Space Telescope. The close proximity of WASP-12b to its G-type star resu…
An ultrahot gas-giant exoplanet with a stratosphere
Thomas M. Evans, David K. Sing, Tiffany Kataria +24
Infrared radiation emitted from a planet contains information about the chemical composition and vertical temperature profile of its atmosphere. If upper layers are cooler than low…
A Spitzer Infrared Radius for the Transiting Extrasolar Planet HD209458b
L. Jeremy Richardson, Joseph Harrington, Sara Seager +1
We have measured the infrared transit of the extrasolar planet HD209458b using the Spitzer Space Telescope. We observed two primary eclipse events (one partial and one complete tra…
A Framework for Prioritizing the TESS Planetary Candidates Most Amenable to Atmospheric Characterization
Eliza M. -R. Kempton, Jacob L. Bean, Dana R. Louie +40
A key legacy of the recently launched TESS mission will be to provide the astronomical community with many of the best transiting exoplanet targets for atmospheric characterization…
Spectroscopic Evidence for a Temperature Inversion in the Dayside Atmosphere of the Hot Jupiter WASP-33b
Korey Haynes, Avi M. Mandell, Nikku Madhusudhan +2
We present observations of two occultations of the extrasolar planet WASP-33b using the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) on the HST, which allow us to constrain the temperature structure…
Phase Curves of Hot Neptune LTT 9779b Suggest a High-Metallicity Atmosphere
Ian J. M. Crossfield, Diana Dragomir, Nicolas B. Cowan +20
Phase curve measurements provide a global view of the composition, thermal structure, and dynamics of exoplanet atmospheres. Although most of the dozens of phase curve measurements…
The Science Case for an Extended Spitzer Mission
Jennifer C. Yee, Giovanni G. Fazio, Robert Benjamin +45
Although the final observations of the Spitzer Warm Mission are currently scheduled for March 2019, it can continue operations through the end of the decade with no loss of photome…
A Search for a Sub-Earth Sized Companion to GJ 436 and a Novel Method to Calibrate Warm Spitzer IRAC Observations
Sarah Ballard, David Charbonneau, Drake Deming +6
We discovered evidence for a possible additional 0.75 R_Earth transiting planet in the NASA EPOXI observations of the known M dwarf exoplanetary system GJ 436. Based on an ephemeri…
Detection of Planetary Emission from the Exoplanet TrES-2 using Spitzer /IRAC
Francis T. O'Donovan, David Charbonneau, Joseph Harrington +4
We present here the results of our observations of TrES-2 using the Infrared Array Camera on Spitzer. We monitored this transiting system during two secondary eclipses, when the pl…
Emergent Spectral Fluxes of Hot Jupiters: an Abrupt Rise in Day Side Brightness Temperature Under Strong Irradiation
Drake Deming, Michael R. Line, Heather A. Knutson +5
We study the emergent spectral fluxes of transiting hot Jupiters, using secondary eclipses from Spitzer. To achieve a large and uniform sample, we have re-analyzed all secondary ec…
Secondary Eclipse Photometry of the Exoplanet WASP-5b with Warm Spitzer
Nathaniel J. Baskin, Heather A. Knutson, Adam Burrows +10
We present photometry of the extrasolar planet WASP-5b in the 3.6 and 4.5 micron bands taken with the Spitzer Space Telescope's Infrared Array Camera as part of the extended warm m…
Solar Magnetic Field Studies Using the 12-Micron Emission Lines. IV. Observations of a Delta-Region Solar Flare
Donald E. Jennings, Drake Deming, George McCabe +2
We have recently developed the capability to make solar vector (Stokes IQUV) magnetograms using the infrared line of MgI at 12.32 microns. On 24 April 2001, we obtained a vector ma…
An emission spectrum for WASP-121b measured across the 0.8-1.1 micron wavelength range using the Hubble Space Telescope
Thomas Mikal-Evans, David K. Sing, Jayesh M. Goyal +11
WASP-121b is a transiting gas giant exoplanet orbiting close to its Roche limit, with an inflated radius nearly double that of Jupiter and a dayside temperature comparable to a lat…
3.6 and 4.5 Micron Phase Curves and Evidence for Non-Equilibrium Chemistry in the Atmosphere of Extrasolar Planet HD 189733b
Heather A. Knutson, Nikole Lewis, Jonathan J. Fortney +11
We present new, full-orbit observations of the infrared phase variations of the canonical hot Jupiter HD 189733b obtained in the 3.6 and 4.5 micron bands using the Spitzer Space Te…
Spectroscopy of Molecular Hydrogen Emission from KH 15D
Drake Deming, David Charbonneau, Joseph Harrington
We report infrared spectroscopy of the unusual eclipsing pre-main sequence object KH 15D, obtained using NIRSPEC on Keck II. During eclipse, observations using low spectral resolut…
A Search for Additional Planets in Five of the Exoplanetary Systems Studied by the NASA EPOXI Mission
Sarah Ballard, Jessie L. Christiansen, David Charbonneau +13
We present time series photometry and constraints on additional planets in five of the exoplanetary systems studied by the EPOCh (Extrasolar Planet Observation and Characterization…
Transits and secondary eclipses of HD 189733 with Spitzer
Eric Agol, Nicolas B. Cowan, James Bushong +4
We present limits on transit timing variations and secondary eclipse depth variations at 8 microns with the Spitzer Space Telescope IRAC camera. Due to the weak limb darkening in t…
Models of the SL9 Impacts I. Ballistic Monte-Carlo Plume
Joseph Harrington, Drake Deming
We model the Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Jupiter impact plumes to calculate synthetic plume views, atmospheric infall fluxes, and debris patterns. Our plume is a swarm of ballistic pa…
Observations of Extrasolar Planets During the non-Cryogenic Spitzer Space Telescope Mission
Drake Deming, Eric Agol, David Charbonneau +3
Precision infrared photometry from Spitzer has enabled the first direct studies of light from extrasolar planets, via observations at secondary eclipse in transiting systems. Curre…
The Hubble PanCET Program: A Metal-rich Atmosphere for the Inflated Hot Jupiter HAT-P-41b
Kyle B. Sheppard, Luis Welbanks, Avi Mandell +14
We present a comprehensive analysis of the 0.3--5\,m transit spectrum for the inflated hot Jupiter HAT-P-41b. The planet was observed in transit with Hubble STIS and WFC3 as pa…
A Spectrum of an Extrasolar Planet
L. Jeremy Richardson, Drake Deming, Karen Horning +2
Of the over 200 known extrasolar planets, 14 exhibit transits in front of their parent stars as seen from Earth. Spectroscopic observations of the transiting planets can probe the…
Statistical Eclipses of Close-in Kepler Sub-Saturns
Holly A. Sheets, Drake Deming
We present a method to detect small atmospheric signals in Kepler's planet candidate light curves by averaging light curves for multiple candidates with similar orbital and physica…
WASP-127b transmission spectrum]{Abundance measurements of HO and carbon-bearing species in the atmosphere of WASP-127b confirm its super-solar metallicity
Jessica J. Spake, David K. Sing, Hannah R. Wakeford +14
The chemical abundances of exoplanet atmospheres may provide valuable information about the bulk compositions, formation pathways, and evolutionary histories of planets. Exoplanets…
GJ 1252b: A Hot Terrestrial Super-Earth With No Atmosphere
Ian J. M. Crossfield, Matej Malik, Michelle L. Hill +16
The increasing numbers of rocky, terrestrial exoplanets known to orbit nearby stars (especially M dwarfs) has drawn increased attention to the possibility of studying these planets…
Statistical Analysis of Hubble/WFC3 Transit Spectroscopy of Extrasolar Planets
Guangwei Fu, Drake Deming, Heather Knutson +3
Transmission spectroscopy provides a window to study exoplanetary atmospheres, but that window is fogged by clouds and hazes. Clouds and haze introduce a degeneracy between the str…
The 4.5 m full-orbit phase curve of the hot Jupiter HD 209458b
Robert T. Zellem, Nikole K. Lewis, Heather A. Knutson +10
The hot Jupiter HD 209458b is particularly amenable to detailed study as it is among the brightest transiting exoplanet systems currently known (V-mag = 7.65; K-mag = 6.308) and ha…
Starspot occultations in infrared transit spectroscopy: the case of WASP-52b
Giovanni Bruno, Nikole K. Lewis, Kevin B. Stevenson +7
Stellar activity is one of the main obstacles to high-precision exoplanet observations and has motivated extensive studies in detection and characterization problems. Most efforts…
Absence of a thick atmosphere on the terrestrial exoplanet LHS 3844b
Laura Kreidberg, Daniel D. B. Koll, Caroline Morley +16
Most known terrestrial planets orbit small stars with radii less than 60% that of the Sun. Theoretical models predict that these planets are more vulnerable to atmospheric loss tha…
Illusion and Reality in the Atmospheres of Exoplanets
Drake Deming, Sara Seager
The atmospheres of exoplanets reveal all their properties beyond mass, radius, and orbit. Based on bulk densities, we know that exoplanets larger than 1.5 Earth radii must have gas…
The Hubble PanCET program: Emission spectrum of hot Jupiter HAT-P-41b
Guangwei Fu, David K. Sing, Drake Deming +6
We present the most complete emission spectrum for inflated hot Jupiter HAT-P-41b combining new HST WFC/G141 spectrum from the Hubble Panchromatic Comparative Exoplanet Treasury (P…
The Emergent 1.1-1.7 Micron Spectrum of the Exoplanet CoRoT-2b as Measured Using the Hubble Space Telescope
Ashlee Wilkins, Drake Deming, Nikku Madhusudhan +4
We have used Hubble/WFC3 and the G141 grism to measure the secondary eclipse of the transiting very hot Jupiter CoRoT-2b in the 1.1-1.7m spectral region. We find an eclipse dep…
HST hot-Jupiter transmission spectral survey: Clear skies for cool Saturn WASP-39b
Patrick D. Fischer, Heather A. Knutson, David K. Sing +13
We present HST STIS optical transmission spectroscopy of the cool Saturn-mass exoplanet WASP-39b from 0.29-1.025 micron, along with complementary transit observations from Spitzer…
Spitzer Reveals Evidence of Molecular Absorption in the Atmosphere of the Hot Neptune LTT 9979b
Diana Dragomir, Ian J. M. Crossfield, Bjorn Benneke +27
Non-rocky sub-jovian exoplanets in high irradiation environments are rare. LTT 9979b, also known as TESS Object of Interest (TOI) 193.01, is one of the few such planets discovered…
Simulations Predicting the Ability of Multi-Color Simultaneous Photometry to Distinguish TESS Candidate Exoplanets from False Positives
Dana R. Louie, Norio Narita, Akihiko Fukui +5
The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is currently concluding its 2-year primary science mission searching 85% of the sky for transiting exoplanets. TESS has already dis…
A Sub-Neptune Exoplanet with a Low-Metallicity Methane-Depleted Atmosphere and Mie-Scattering Clouds
Björn Benneke, Heather A. Knutson, Joshua Lothringer +15
With no analogues in the Solar System, the discovery of thousands of exoplanets with masses and radii intermediate between Earth and Neptune was one of the big surprises of exoplan…
Identifying Planetary Biosignature Impostors: Spectral Features of CO and O4 Resulting from Abiotic O2/O3 Production
Edward W. Schwieterman, Victoria S. Meadows, Shawn D. Domagal-Goldman +6
O2 and O3 have been long considered the most robust individual biosignature gases in a planetary atmosphere, yet multiple mechanisms that may produce them in the absence of life ha…
Strong Infrared Emission from the Extrasolar Planet HD189733b
Drake Deming, Joseph Harrington, Sara Seager +1
We report detection of strong infrared thermal emission from the nearby (d=19 pc) transiting extrasolar planet HD189733b, by measuring the flux decrement during its prominent secon…
Confirming Variability in the Secondary Eclipse Depth of the Super-Earth 55 Cancri e
Patrick Tamburo, Avi Mandell, Drake Deming +1
We present a reanalysis of five transit and eight eclipse observations of the ultra-short period super-Earth 55 Cancri e observed using the Spitzer Space Telescope during 2011-2013…
High C/O Ratio and Weak Thermal Inversion in the Very Hot Atmosphere of Exoplanet WASP-12b
Nikku Madhusudhan, Joseph Harrington, Kevin B. Stevenson +16
The carbon-to-oxygen ratio (C/O) in a planet provides critical information about its primordial origins and subsequent evolution. A primordial C/O greater than 0.8 causes a carbide…
H2O abundances in the atmospheres of three hot Jupiters
Nikku Madhusudhan, Nicolas Crouzet, Peter R. McCullough +2
The core accretion theory for giant planet formation predicts enrichment of elemental abundances in planetary envelopes caused by runaway accretion of planetesimals, which is consi…
Warm Spitzer Photometry of Three Hot Jupiters: HAT-P-3b, HAT-P-4b and HAT-P-12b
Kamen O. Todorov, Drake Deming, Heather A. Knutson +11
We present Warm Spitzer/IRAC secondary eclipse time series photometry of three short-period transiting exoplanets, HAT-P-3b, HAT-P-4b and HAT-P-12b, in both the available 3.6 and 4…
Pale Orange Dots: The Impact of Organic Haze on the Habitability and Detectability of Earthlike Exoplanets
Giada N. Arney, Victoria S. Meadows, Shawn D. Domagal-Goldman +5
Hazes are common in known planet atmospheres, and geochemical evidence suggests early Earth occasionally supported an organic haze with significant environmental and spectral conse…
Spitzer Transit and Secondary Eclipse Photometry of GJ 436b
Drake Deming, Joseph Harrington, Gregory Laughlin +4
We report the results of infrared (8 micron) transit and secondary eclipse photometry of the hot Neptune exoplanet, GJ436b using Spitzer. The nearly photon-limited precision of the…
Models of the SL9 Impacts II. Radiative-hydrodynamic Modeling of the Plume Splashback
Drake Deming, Joseph Harrington
We model the plume "splashback" phase of the SL9 collisions with Jupiter using the ZEUS-3D hydrodynamic code. We modified the Zeus code to include gray radiative transport, and we…
A Featureless Infrared Transmission Spectrum for the Super-Puff Planet Kepler-79d
Yayaati Chachan, Daniel Jontof-Hutter, Heather A. Knutson +12
Extremely low density planets ('super-puffs') are a small but intriguing subset of the transiting planet population. With masses in the super-Earth range ( M) and…
The Hubble PanCET program: Transit and Eclipse Spectroscopy of the Strongly Irradiated Giant Exoplanet WASP-76b
Guangwei Fu, Drake Deming, Joshua Lothringer +21
Ultra-hot Jupiters with equilibrium temperature greater than 2000K are uniquely interesting targets as they provide us crucial insights into how atmospheres behave under extreme co…
Spitzer IRAC Secondary Eclipse Photometry of the Transiting Extrasolar Planet HAT-P-1b
Kamen Todorov, Drake Deming, Jospeph Harrington +5
We report Spitzer/IRAC photometry of the transiting giant exoplanet HAT-P-1b during its secondary eclipse. This planet lies near the postulated boundary between the pM and pL-class…
Investigating Trends in Atmospheric Compositions of Cool Gas Giant Planets Using Spitzer Secondary Eclipses
Nicole L. Wallack, Heather A. Knutson, Caroline V. Morley +7
We present new 3.6 and 4.5 micron secondary eclipse measurements for five cool (less than approximately 1000 K) transiting gas giant planets: HAT-P-15b, HAT-P-17b, HAT-P-18b, HAT-P…
Infrared Observations During the Secondary Eclipse of HD 209458b: I. 3.6-Micron Occultation Spectroscopy Using the VLT
L. Jeremy Richardson, Drake Deming, Guenter Wiedemann +4
We search for an infrared signature of the transiting extrasolar planet HD 209458b during secondary eclipse. Our method, which we call `occultation spectroscopy,' searches for the…
Astro2020: Astrophotonics White Paper
Pradip Gatkine, Sylvain Veilleux, John Mather +19
Astrophotonics is the application of versatile photonic technologies to channel, manipulate, and disperse guided light from one or more telescopes to achieve scientific objectives…
The Apparently Decaying Orbit of WASP-12
Kishore C. Patra, Joshua N. Winn, Matthew J. Holman +3
We present new transit and occultation times for the hot Jupiter WASP-12b. The data are compatible with a constant period derivative: ms yr and $P/\dot{P…
Preliminary Results on HAT-P-4, TrES-3, XO-2, and GJ 436 from the NASA EPOXI Mission
Sarah Ballard, David Charbonneau, Michael F. A'Hearn +16
EPOXI (EPOCh + DIXI) is a NASA Discovery Program Mission of Opportunity using the Deep Impact flyby spacecraft. The EPOCh (Extrasolar Planet Observation and Characterization) Scien…
The NASA EPOXI mission of opportunity to gather ultraprecise photometry of known transiting exoplanets
Jessie L. Christiansen, David Charbonneau, Michael F. A'Hearn +16
The NASA Discovery mission EPOXI, utilizing the Deep Impact flyby spacecraft, comprises two phases: EPOCh (Extrasolar Planet Observation and Characterization) and DIXI (Deep Impact…
The Third Option: Color Phase Curves to Characterize the Atmospheres of Temperate Rocky Exoplanets
Drake Deming, Andrew Lincowski, Laura Kreidberg +6
Detecting and characterizing the atmospheres of rocky exoplanets has proven to be challenging for JWST. Transit spectroscopy of the TRAPPIST-1 planets has been impacted by the effe…
Precise Radial Velocities Using Line Bisectors
Drake Deming, Joe Llama, Guangwei Fu
We study the properties of line bisectors in the spectrum of the Sun-as-a-star, as observed using the Integrated Sunlight Spectrometer (ISS) of the SOLIS project. Our motivation is…
Spitzer Transits of the Super-Earth GJ1214b and Implications for Its Atmosphere
Jonathan D. Fraine, Drake Deming, Michaël Gillon +7
We observed the transiting super-Earth exoplanet GJ1214b using Warm Spitzer at 4.5 microns wavelength during a 20-day quasi-continuous sequence in May 2011. The goals of our long o…
A Ground-Based Search for Thermal Emission from the Exoplanet TrES-1
Heather A. Knutson, David Charbonneau, Drake Deming +1
Eclipsing planetary systems give us an important window on extrasolar planet atmospheres. By measuring the depth of the secondary eclipse, when the planet moves behind the star, we…
Detection of a Westward Hotspot Offset in the Atmosphere of a Hot Gas Giant CoRoT-2b
Lisa Dang, Nicolas B. Cowan, Joel C. Schwartz +9
Short-period planets exhibit day-night temperature contrasts of hundreds to thousands of degrees K. They also exhibit eastward hotspot offsets whereby the hottest region on the pla…
Atmospheric Characterization of 5 Hot Jupiters with Wide Field Camera 3 on the Hubble Space Telescope
Sukrit Ranjan, David Charbonneau, Jean-Michel Désert +4
We probe the structure and composition of the atmospheres of 5 hot Jupiter exoplanets using the Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) instrument. We use the G141 grism…
Warm Spitzer Photometry of the Transiting Exoplanets CoRoT-1 and CoRoT-2 at Secondary Eclipse
Drake Deming, Heather Knutson, Eric Agol +9
We measure secondary eclipses of the hot giant exoplanets CoRoT-1 at 3.6 and 4.5 microns, and CoRoT-2 at 3.6 microns, both using Warm Spitzer. We find that the Warm Spitzer mission…
Phase curves of WASP-33b and HD 149026b and a New Correlation Between Phase Curve Offset and Irradiation Temperature
Michael Zhang, Heather A. Knutson, Tiffany Kataria +9
We present new 3.6 and 4.5 Spitzer phase curves for the highly irradiated hot Jupiter WASP-33b and the unusually dense Saturn-mass planet HD 149026b. As part of this analysis…
Constraints on the Atmospheric Circulation and Variability of the Eccentric Hot Jupiter XO-3b
Ian Wong, Heather A. Knutson, Nicolas B. Cowan +9
We report secondary eclipse photometry of the hot Jupiter XO-3b in the 4.5~m band taken with the Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) on the Spitzer Space Telescope. We measure individ…
Stellar Activity Effects on Moist Habitable Terrestrial Atmospheres Around M dwarfs
Mahmuda Afrin Badhan, Eric T. Wolf, Ravi Kumar Kopparapu +4
Transit spectroscopy of terrestrial planets around nearby M dwarfs is a primary goal of space missions in coming decades. 3-D climate modeling has shown that slow-synchronous rotat…
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
Jessie L. Christiansen, Sarah Ballard, David Charbonneau +11
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…