An Initial Assessment of the Hanle Echelle Spectrograph for Exoplanet Atmosphere Studies
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arXiv
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2025
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| _version_ | 1866912598459416576 |
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| author | Bestha, Manjunath Unni, Athira Sivarani, T. Menon, Shivangi M, Parvathy Surya, Arun Saraf, Pallavi Divakar, Devika Manickavasaham, Lokesh |
| author_facet | Bestha, Manjunath Unni, Athira Sivarani, T. Menon, Shivangi M, Parvathy Surya, Arun Saraf, Pallavi Divakar, Devika Manickavasaham, Lokesh |
| contents | Transmission spectroscopy is an effective technique for probing exoplanetary atmospheres. While most observations have relied on space facilities such as HST and JWST, ground-based high-resolution transmission spectroscopy (HRTS) has also provided valuable insights by resolving individual atomic features. In this work, we present an initial performance assessment and feasibility test of the Hanle Echelle Spectrograph (HESP) on the 2 m Himalayan Chandra Telescope (HCT) for HRTS. As a benchmark, we observed the hot Jupiter HD 209458b during a single transit at a resolution of R = 30,000. We developed a Python-based, semi-automated data reduction and analysis pipeline that includes corrections for telluric contamination and stellar radial velocity shifts. The final achieved signal-to-noise ratio and spectral stability allow us to probe for features at the 0.1% level. This work establishes a methodology and demonstrates the operational capability of the HESP-HCT for obtaining high-resolution transmission spectra. |
| format | Preprint |
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arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2509_17142 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | An Initial Assessment of the Hanle Echelle Spectrograph for Exoplanet Atmosphere Studies Bestha, Manjunath Unni, Athira Sivarani, T. Menon, Shivangi M, Parvathy Surya, Arun Saraf, Pallavi Divakar, Devika Manickavasaham, Lokesh Earth and Planetary Astrophysics Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics Transmission spectroscopy is an effective technique for probing exoplanetary atmospheres. While most observations have relied on space facilities such as HST and JWST, ground-based high-resolution transmission spectroscopy (HRTS) has also provided valuable insights by resolving individual atomic features. In this work, we present an initial performance assessment and feasibility test of the Hanle Echelle Spectrograph (HESP) on the 2 m Himalayan Chandra Telescope (HCT) for HRTS. As a benchmark, we observed the hot Jupiter HD 209458b during a single transit at a resolution of R = 30,000. We developed a Python-based, semi-automated data reduction and analysis pipeline that includes corrections for telluric contamination and stellar radial velocity shifts. The final achieved signal-to-noise ratio and spectral stability allow us to probe for features at the 0.1% level. This work establishes a methodology and demonstrates the operational capability of the HESP-HCT for obtaining high-resolution transmission spectra. |
| title | An Initial Assessment of the Hanle Echelle Spectrograph for Exoplanet Atmosphere Studies |
| topic | Earth and Planetary Astrophysics Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.17142 |