The HUSTLE Program: The UV to Near-IR Transmission Spectrum of the Hot Jupiter KELT-7b

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Gascón, Carlos, López-Morales, Mercedes, MacDonald, Ryan J., Barstow, Joanna K., Boehm, Victoria A., Wakeford, Hannah R., Alam, Munazza K., Alderson, Lili, Batalha, Natasha E., Fairman, Charlotte E., Grant, David, Lewis, Nikole K., Marley, Mark S., Moran, Sarah E., Ohno, Kazumasa, Anglada-Escudé, Guillem, Ribas, Ignasi
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866916936661598208
author Gascón, Carlos
López-Morales, Mercedes
MacDonald, Ryan J.
Barstow, Joanna K.
Boehm, Victoria A.
Wakeford, Hannah R.
Alam, Munazza K.
Alderson, Lili
Batalha, Natasha E.
Fairman, Charlotte E.
Grant, David
Lewis, Nikole K.
Marley, Mark S.
Moran, Sarah E.
Ohno, Kazumasa
Anglada-Escudé, Guillem
Ribas, Ignasi
author_facet Gascón, Carlos
López-Morales, Mercedes
MacDonald, Ryan J.
Barstow, Joanna K.
Boehm, Victoria A.
Wakeford, Hannah R.
Alam, Munazza K.
Alderson, Lili
Batalha, Natasha E.
Fairman, Charlotte E.
Grant, David
Lewis, Nikole K.
Marley, Mark S.
Moran, Sarah E.
Ohno, Kazumasa
Anglada-Escudé, Guillem
Ribas, Ignasi
contents The ultraviolet and optical wavelength ranges have proven to be a key addition to infrared observations of exoplanet atmospheres, as they offer unique insights into the properties of clouds and hazes and are sensitive to signatures of disequilibrium chemistry. Here we present the 0.2-0.8 $μ$m transmission spectrum of the Teq = 2000 K Jupiter KELT-7b, acquired with HST WFC3/UVIS G280 as part of the HUSTLE Treasury program. We combined this new spectrum with the previously published HST WFC3/IR G141 (1.1-1.7 $μ$m) spectrum and Spitzer photometric points at 3.6$μ$m and 4.5$μ$m, to reveal a generally featureless transmission spectrum between 0.2 and 1.7 $μ$m, with a slight downward slope towards bluer wavelengths, and a asymmetric water feature in the 1.1-1.7 $μ$m band. Retrieval models conclude that the 0.2 - 1.7$μ$m spectrum is primarily explained by a high H- abundance ($\sim 10^{-5}$), significantly above the equilibrium chemistry prediction ($\sim 10^{-12}$), suggesting disequilibrium in KELT-7b's upper atmosphere. Our retrievals also suggest the presence of bright inhomogeneities in the stellar surface, and tentative evidence of CO2 at the Spitzer wavelengths. We demonstrate that with the UV-optical coverage provided by WFC3 UVIS/G280, we are able to confirm the presence and constrain the abundance of H-, and obtain evidence for bright stellar inhomogeneities that would have been overlooked using infrared data alone. Observations redward of 1$μ$m with JWST should be able to further constrain the abundance of H-, as well as confirm the presence of CO2 inferred by the two Spitzer datapoints.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_19193
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle The HUSTLE Program: The UV to Near-IR Transmission Spectrum of the Hot Jupiter KELT-7b
Gascón, Carlos
López-Morales, Mercedes
MacDonald, Ryan J.
Barstow, Joanna K.
Boehm, Victoria A.
Wakeford, Hannah R.
Alam, Munazza K.
Alderson, Lili
Batalha, Natasha E.
Fairman, Charlotte E.
Grant, David
Lewis, Nikole K.
Marley, Mark S.
Moran, Sarah E.
Ohno, Kazumasa
Anglada-Escudé, Guillem
Ribas, Ignasi
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
The ultraviolet and optical wavelength ranges have proven to be a key addition to infrared observations of exoplanet atmospheres, as they offer unique insights into the properties of clouds and hazes and are sensitive to signatures of disequilibrium chemistry. Here we present the 0.2-0.8 $μ$m transmission spectrum of the Teq = 2000 K Jupiter KELT-7b, acquired with HST WFC3/UVIS G280 as part of the HUSTLE Treasury program. We combined this new spectrum with the previously published HST WFC3/IR G141 (1.1-1.7 $μ$m) spectrum and Spitzer photometric points at 3.6$μ$m and 4.5$μ$m, to reveal a generally featureless transmission spectrum between 0.2 and 1.7 $μ$m, with a slight downward slope towards bluer wavelengths, and a asymmetric water feature in the 1.1-1.7 $μ$m band. Retrieval models conclude that the 0.2 - 1.7$μ$m spectrum is primarily explained by a high H- abundance ($\sim 10^{-5}$), significantly above the equilibrium chemistry prediction ($\sim 10^{-12}$), suggesting disequilibrium in KELT-7b's upper atmosphere. Our retrievals also suggest the presence of bright inhomogeneities in the stellar surface, and tentative evidence of CO2 at the Spitzer wavelengths. We demonstrate that with the UV-optical coverage provided by WFC3 UVIS/G280, we are able to confirm the presence and constrain the abundance of H-, and obtain evidence for bright stellar inhomogeneities that would have been overlooked using infrared data alone. Observations redward of 1$μ$m with JWST should be able to further constrain the abundance of H-, as well as confirm the presence of CO2 inferred by the two Spitzer datapoints.
title The HUSTLE Program: The UV to Near-IR Transmission Spectrum of the Hot Jupiter KELT-7b
topic Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.19193