Looking Forward
In our study of WASP-12b, we achieved
comparable precision to previous Hubble
Space Telescope Wide Field Camera 3 measurements, thus proving that ground-based
studies of exoplanetary atmospheres can be
a complementary addition to space-based
observations. We are currently conducting
a National Optical Astronomy Observatory
survey program (Principal Investigator (PI)
Jean-Michel Desert) using GMOS to measure
transmission spectra of a number of transiting planets and to investigate the nature and
origins of these planets in a systematic way.
In addition, the recent commissioning of
FLAMINGOS-2 opens up the possibility of
applying the same differential spectroscopy
technique in the near-infrared. We also have
observations from late 2013 (GS-2013BQ-71, PI Kevin Stevenson) to test the capabilities of the instrument for this science. These
test observations will be used to observe
secondary eclipses of a different planet,
WASP-18b, allowing us to measure its thermal emission spectrum.
References
Bean, J., et al., Nature, 468: 669, 2010
Bean, J., et al., The Astrophysical Journal, 743: 92,
2011
Bean, J., et al., The Astrophysical Journal, 771:
108, 2013
Charbonneau, D., et al., The Astrophysical Journal, 568: 377, 2002
Gibson, N., et al., Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 428: 3680, 2013
Madhusudhan, N., et al., Nature, 469: 64, 2011
Stevenson, K., et al., The Astrophysical Journal,
submitted, arXiv:1305.1670
Jacob Bean is an assistant professor at the University of Chicago. He can be reached at:
[email protected]
Kevin Stevenson is a postdoctoral scholar at
the University of Chicago. He can be reached at:
[email protected]
Jean-Michel Desert is an assistant professor at
the University of Colorado Boulder. He can be
reached at: [email protected]
Marcel Bergmann is an independent contract
suppo