Hubble WFC3 Spectroscopy of the Habitable-zone Super-Earth LHS 1140 b

Atmospheric characterization of temperate, rocky planets is the holy grail of exoplanet studies. These worlds are at the limits of our capabilities with current instrumentation in transmission spectroscopy and challenge our state-of-the-art statistical techniques. Here we present the transmission sp...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Astronomical journal 2021-01, Vol.161 (1), p.44
Main Authors: Edwards, Billy, Changeat, Quentin, Mori, Mayuko, Anisman, Lara O., Morvan, Mario, Yip, Kai Hou, Tsiaras, Angelos, Al-Refaie, Ahmed, Waldmann, Ingo, Tinetti, Giovanna
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
ABSORPTION
Astronomical models
Astronomy
ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
Atmospheric models
Circumstellar habitable zone
Contamination
DETECTION
Extrasolar planets
Field cameras
Hubble Space Telescope
Instrumentation
INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
James Webb Space Telescope
LIGHT TRANSMISSION
MODULATION
Molecular absorption
SIGNAL-TO-NOISE RATIO
Space telescopes
SPECTRA
SPECTROSCOPY
Spectrum analysis
Statistical methods
Stellar models
TELESCOPES
Terrestrial planets
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Summary:Atmospheric characterization of temperate, rocky planets is the holy grail of exoplanet studies. These worlds are at the limits of our capabilities with current instrumentation in transmission spectroscopy and challenge our state-of-the-art statistical techniques. Here we present the transmission spectrum of the temperate super-Earth LHS 1140b using the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) G141 grism data of this habitable-zone ( T eq  = 235 K) super-Earth ( R  = 1.7 R ⊕ ) shows tentative evidence of water. However, the signal-to-noise ratio, and thus the significance of the detection, is low and stellar contamination models can cause modulation over the spectral band probed. We attempt to correct for contamination using these models and find that, while many still lead to evidence for water, some could provide reasonable fits to the data without the need for molecular absorption although most of these cause features in the visible ground-based data which are nonphysical. Future observations with the James Webb Space Telescope would be capable of confirming, or refuting, this atmospheric detection.
ISSN:0004-6256
1538-3881
1538-3881
DOI:10.3847/1538-3881/abc6a5