The HUSTLE Program: The UV to Near-infrared HST WFC3/UVIS G280 Transmission Spectrum of WASP-127b
Abstract Ultraviolet wavelengths offer unique insights into aerosols in exoplanetary atmospheres. However, only a handful of exoplanets have been observed in the ultraviolet to date. Here, we present the ultraviolet-visible transmission spectrum of the inflated hot Jupiter WASP-127b. We observed one transit of WASP-127b with WFC3/UVIS G280 as part of the Hubble Ultraviolet-optical Survey of Transiting Legacy Exoplanets, obtaining a transmission spectrum from 200 to 800 nm. Our reductions yielded a broadband transit depth precision of 91 ppm and a median precision of 240 ppm across 59 spectral channels. Our observations are suggestive of a high-altitude cloud layer with forward modeling showing they are composed of submicron particles and retrievals indicating a high-opacity patchy cloud. While our UVIS/G280 data only offer weak evidence for Na, adding archival Hubble Space Telescope (HST) WFC3/IR and STIS observations raises the overall Na detection significance to 4.1 σ . Our work demonstrates the capabilities of HST WFC3/UVIS G280 observations to probe the aerosols and atmospheric composition of transiting hot Jupiters with comparable precision to HST STIS.
Authors
- Natasha E. Batalha (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1240-6844)
- David Grant (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5878-618X)
- Carlos Gascón (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5097-9251)
- Mercedes López‐Morales (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3204-8183)
- Munazza K. Alam (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4157-832X)
- Kazumasa Ohno (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3290-6758)
- Nikole K. Lewis (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8507-1304)
- Ryan J. MacDonald (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4816-3469)
- Sarah E. Moran (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6721-3284)
- J. K. Barstow (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3726-5419)
- Lili Alderson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8703-7751)
- Mark S. Marley (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5251-2943)
- Hannah R. Wakeford (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4328-3867)
- Charlotte Fairman (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9665-5260)
- V. A. Boehm (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4945-1860)
Publication Details
- Journal
- The Astronomical Journal
- Published
- 2024-12-12
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/ad8dde
- Citations
- 9
- Primary Topic
- Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 2.98
Funders
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- California Institute of Technology
- Space Telescope Science Institute
- Government of the United Kingdom
- UK Research and Innovation
- University of Bristol
- Generalitat de Catalunya
- HORIZON EUROPE Framework Programme
- Science and Technology Facilities Council
- Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca