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Unveiling an exoplanetary Neptunian atmosphere through multiband transit photometry

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 January 2014

V. Nascimbeni
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università degli Studi di Padova, Vicolo dell'Osservatorio 3, 35122 Padova, Italy email: valerio.nascimbeni@unipd.it INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, vicolo dell'Osservatorio 5, 35122 Padova, Italy
G. Piotto
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università degli Studi di Padova, Vicolo dell'Osservatorio 3, 35122 Padova, Italy email: valerio.nascimbeni@unipd.it INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, vicolo dell'Osservatorio 5, 35122 Padova, Italy
I. Pagano
Affiliation:
INAF – Osservatorio Astrofisico di Catania, via S. Sofia 78, 95123 Catania, Italy
G. Scandariato
Affiliation:
INAF – Osservatorio Astrofisico di Catania, via S. Sofia 78, 95123 Catania, Italy INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Palermo, Piazza del Parlamento 1, 90134 Palermo, Italy
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Abstract

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The “effective” radius of a planet is a function of wavelength due to scattering and/or absorption processes, and we can exploit simultaneous multiband transit photometry to probe the atmospheric scale height and composition. We present new photometric data of the recently discovered “hot Uranus” GJ3470b, gathered with the LBC camera at LBT. Light curves of unprecedented accuracy (0.0012 mag in U and 0.00028 mag in a narrow band centered at 972 nm) allowed us to measure an increasingly larger planetary radius at shorter wavelengths, which we interpret as a signature of Rayleigh scattering by a large scale height atmosphere. Further follow-up observations to confirm this result and probe the presence of specific atomic and molecular species is ongoing.

Type
Contributed Papers
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2013 

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