CHEOPS geometric albedo of the hot Jupiter HD 209458 b
Journal article, 2022

We report the detection of the secondary eclipse of the hot Jupiter HD 209458 b in optical/visible light using the CHEOPS space telescope. Our measurement of 20.4+3.2-3.3 parts per million translates into a geometric albedo of Ag = 0.096 ± 0.016. The previously estimated dayside temperature of about 1500 K implies that our geometric albedo measurement consists predominantly of reflected starlight and is largely uncontaminated by thermal emission. This makes the present result one of the most robust measurements of Ag for any exoplanet. Our calculations of the bandpass-integrated geometric albedo demonstrate that the measured value of Ag is consistent with a cloud-free atmosphere, where starlight is reflected via Rayleigh scattering by hydrogen molecules, and the water and sodium abundances are consistent with stellar metallicity. We predict that the bandpass-integrated TESS geometric albedo is too faint to detect and that a phase curve of HD 209458 b observed by CHEOPS would have a distinct shape associated with Rayleigh scattering if the atmosphere is indeed cloud free.

Planetary systems

Planets

Techniques: Photometric

Satellites: Individual: HD 209458 b

Planets and satellites: Atmospheres

Author

A. Brandeker

Stockholm University

Kevin Heng

University of Bern

The University of Warwick

M. Lendl

University of Geneva

J. A. Patel

Stockholm University

Brett M. Morris

University of Bern

C. Broeg

University of Bern

P. Guterman

Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille

Division Technique INSU

M. Beck

University of Geneva

P. Maxted

Keele University

O. Demangeon

University of Porto

L. Delrez

University of Liège

B.O. Demory

University of Bern

D. Kitzmann

University of Bern

N. C. Santos

University of Porto

V. Singh

Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)

Y. Alibert

University of Bern

R. Alonso

Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias

University of La Laguna

G. Anglada

Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC)

Institute of Space Sciences (ICE) - CSIC

T. Bárczy

Admatis

D. Barrado

Centro de Astrobiologia (CAB)

S.C.C. Barros

University of Porto

W. Baumjohann

Institut fur Weltraumforschung

T. Beck

University of Bern

W. Benz

University of Bern

N. Billot

University of Geneva

X. Bonfils

Grenoble Alpes University

G. Bruno

University of Bern

J. Cabrera

German Aerospace Center (DLR)

S. Charnoz

Paris Descartes University

A. Collier Cameron

University of St Andrews

C. Corral Van Damme

European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESA ESTEC)

Szilard Csizmadia

German Aerospace Center (DLR)

M. B. Davies

Lund University

M. Deleuil

Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille

A. Deline

University of Geneva

D. Ehrenreich

University of Geneva

Anders Erikson

German Aerospace Center (DLR)

J. Farinato

Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)

A. Fortier

University of Bern

L. Fossati

Institut fur Weltraumforschung

Malcolm Fridlund

Leiden University

Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Astronomy and Plasmaphysics

D. Gandolfi

University of Turin

Michaël Gillon

University of Liège

M. Gudel

University of Vienna

S. Hoyer

Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille

K. Isaak

European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESA ESTEC)

L.L. Kiss

Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE)

Hungarian Academy of Sciences

J. Laskar

Paris Observatory

A. L. des Etangs

Institut d 'Astrophysique de Paris

C. Lovis

University of Geneva

A. Luntzer

University of Vienna

D. Magrin

Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)

Valerio Nascimbeni

Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)

G. Olofsson

Stockholm University

R. Ottensamer

University of Vienna

I. Pagano

Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)

Enric Palle

Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias

G. Peter

German Aerospace Center (DLR)

Giampaolo P. Piotto

University of Padua

Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)

Don L. Pollacco

The University of Warwick

D. Queloz

University of Cambridge

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich (ETH)

Roberto Ragazzoni

Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)

University of Padua

N. Rando

European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESA ESTEC)

H. Rauer

German Aerospace Center (DLR)

Freie Universität Berlin

Technische Universität Berlin

I. Ribas

Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC)

Institute of Space Sciences (ICE) - CSIC

Gaetano Scandariato

Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)

D. Segransan

University of Geneva

A.E. Simon

University of Bern

Alexis M. S. Smith

German Aerospace Center (DLR)

S. G. Sousa

University of Porto

Manfred B. Steller

Institut fur Weltraumforschung

G.M. Szabó

Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE)

MTA-ELTE Lendület Milky Way Research Group

Nicolas Thomas

University of Bern

S. Udry

University of Geneva

V. Van Grootel

University of Liège

N. A. Walton

University of Cambridge

D. Wolter

German Aerospace Center (DLR)

Astronomy and Astrophysics

0004-6361 (ISSN) 1432-0746 (eISSN)

Vol. 659 L4

Subject Categories

Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology

DOI

10.1051/0004-6361/202243082

More information

Latest update

9/15/2023