A Spitzer Spectrum of the Exoplanet HD 189733b

Creators: Grillmair, C. J.; Charbonneau, D.; Burrows, A. S.; Armus, L.; Stauffer, J. R.; Meadows, V.; Van Cleve, J.; Levine, D.

Abstract

We report on the measurement of the 7.5-14.7 μm spectrum for the transiting extrasolar giant planet HD 189733b using the Infrared Spectrograph on the Spitzer Space Telescope. Although the observations comprise only 12 hr of telescope time, the continuum is well measured and has a flux ranging from 0.6 to 1.8 mJy over the wavelength range, or 0.49% ± 0.02% of the flux of the parent star. The variation in the measured fractional flux is very nearly flat over the entire wavelength range and shows no indication of significant absorption by water or methane, in contrast with the predictions of most atmospheric models. Models with strong day/night differences appear to be disfavored by the data, suggesting that heat redistribution to the night side of the planet is highly efficient.

Additional Information

© 2007 American Astronomical Society. Received 2007 January 19; accepted 2007 February 12; published 2007 February 23. We are grateful to an anonymous referee for several suggestions that significantly improved the analysis and presentation of this work. This work is based on observations made with the Spitzer Space Telescope, which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with NASA. Support for this work was provided by NASA through an award issued by JPL/Caltech. This study was supported in part by NASA grant NNGO4GL22G and through the NASA Astrobiology Institute under Cooperative Agreement CAN-02-OSS-02 issued through the Office of Space Science.

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