Optical transmission photometry of the highly inflated exoplanet WASP-17b

J. Bento*, P. J. Wheatley, C. M. Copperwheat, J. J. Fortney, V. S. Dhillon, R. Hickman, S. P. Littlefair, T. R. Marsh, S. G. Parsons, J. Southworth

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    36 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    We present ground-based high-precision observations of the transit of WASP-17b using themultiband photometer ULTRACAM on ESO's New Technology Telescope (NTT) in thecontext of performing transmission spectrophotometry of this highly inflated exoplanet. Ourchoice of filters (SDSS u′, g′ and r′ bands) is designed to probe for the presence of opacitysources in the upper atmosphere. We find evidence for a wavelength dependence in the planetradius in the form of enhanced absorption in the SDSS r′ band, consistent with a previouslydetected broad sodium feature. We present a new independent measurement of the planetaryradius at Rpl = 1.97 ± 0.06RJ, which confirms this planet as the most inflated exoplanet knownto date. Our measurements are most consistent with an atmospheric profile devoid of enhancedTiO opacity, previously predicted to be present for this planet.

    Original languageEnglish
    Article numberstt1979
    Pages (from-to)1511-1518
    Number of pages8
    JournalMonthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
    Volume437
    Issue number2
    Early online date14 Nov 2013
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Jan 2014

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