Prospects for Spectroscopic Reflected-light Planet Searches

Abstract

High-resolution spectroscopic searches for the starlight reflected from close-in extra-solar giant planets have the capability of determining the optical albedo spectra and scattering properties of these objects. When combined with radial velocity measurements they also yield the true mass of the planet. To date, only two such planets have been targeted for reflected-light signals, yielding upper limits on the planets' optical albedos. Here we examine the prospects for future searches of this kind. We present Monte Carlo estimates of prior probability distributions for the orbital velocity amplitudes and planet/star flux ratios of 6 bright stars known to harbour giant planets in orbits with periods of less than 5 days. Using these estimates, we assess the viability of these targets for future reflected-light searches using 4m and 8m-class telescopes.

7 pages, 14 figures, MNRAS accepted 22 August 2003

References in corpus (24)

• Evolutionary models for cool brown dwarfs and extrasolar giant planets. The case of HD 20945
• Detection of Planetary Transits Across a Sun-like Star
• A Non-Gray Theory of Extrasolar Giant Planets and Brown Dwarfs
• Atmospheric Circulation and Tides of "51Peg b-like" Planets
• HST Time-Series Photometry of the Transiting Planet of HD 209458
• Giant Planets at Small Orbital Distances
• Evolution of "51Peg b-like" Planets
• Albedo and Reflection Spectra of Extrasolar Giant Planets
• Reflected Spectra and Albedos of Extrasolar Giant Planets I: Clear and Cloudy Atmospheres
• The Spectroscopic Orbit of the Planetary Companion Transiting HD209458
• Parent Stars of Extrasolar Planets VI: Abundance Analyses of 20 New Systems
• Theoretical Spectra and Atmospheres of Extrasolar Giant Planets
• On the Radii of Close-in Giant Planets
• Changing Face of the Extrasolar Giant Planet, HD 209458b
• An Upper Limit on the Reflected Light from the Planet Orbiting the Star tau Bootis
• Parent Stars of Extrasolar Planets V: HD75289
• Extrasolar Giant Planets under Strong Stellar Irradiation
• Irradiated Planets
• First Results from the Anglo-Australian Planet Search - A Brown Dwarf Candidate and a 51 Peg-like Planet
• HD 209458: Physical Parameters of the Parent Star and the Transiting Planet
• Probable detection of starlight reflected from the giant exoplanet orbiting tau Bootis
• Resolved Mid-IR Emission in the Narrow Line Region of NGC 4151
• A search for starlight reflected from upsilon And's innermost planet
• An assessment of the rotation rates of the host stars of extrasolar planets

Cited by in corpus (7)

• Spectropolarimetric observations of the transiting planetary system of the K dwarf HD 189733
• Optical Albedo Theory of Strongly-Irradiated Giant Planets: The Case of HD 209458b
• A search for starlight reflected from HD 75289 b
• HD 75289Ab revisited - Searching for starlight reflected from a hot Jupiter
• Near infrared spectroscopic search for the close orbiting planet HD 75289b
• A comparison of spectroscopic methods for detecting starlight scattered by transiting hot Jupiters, with application to Subaru data for HD 209458b and HD 189733b
• The extrasolar planet atmosphere and exosphere: Emission and transmission spectroscopy