A Population Analysis of 20 Exoplanets Observed from Optical to Near-infrared Wavelengths with the Hubble Space Telescope: Evidence for Widespread Stellar Contamination

Abstract We present a population study of 20 exoplanets, ranging from Neptune-like to inflated hot-Jupiter planets, observed during transit with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) and Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) instruments on board the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). To obtain spectral information from the near-ultraviolet to the near-infrared, we reanalyzed 16 WFC3 and over 50 STIS archival data sets with our dedicated HST pipeline. We also include 24 WFC3 data sets previously reduced with the same software. Across our target sample, we observe significant divergence among multiple observations conducted with the same STIS grating at various epochs, while we do not detect variations in the WFC3 data sets. These results are suggestive of stellar contamination, which we have investigated further using known Bayesian tools and other tailored metrics, facilitating a more objective assessment of stellar activity intensity within each system. Our findings reveal that stellar activity contaminates up to half of the studied exoplanet atmospheres, albeit at varying extents. Accounting for stellar activity can significantly alter planetary atmospheric parameters like molecular abundances (up to 6 orders of magnitude) and temperature (up to 145%), contrasting with the results of analyses that neglect activity. Our results emphasize the importance of considering the effects of stellar contamination in exoplanet transit studies; this issue is particularly true for data sets obtained with facilities that do not cover the optical and/or UV spectral range where the activity is expected to be more impactful but also more easily detectable. Our results also provide a catalog of potentially active stars for further investigation and monitoring.