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  • ACCESS and LRG-BEASTS: A Pr...
    Kirk, James; Rackham, Benjamin V.; MacDonald, Ryan J.; López-Morales, Mercedes; Espinoza, Néstor; Lendl, Monika; Wilson, Jamie; Osip, David J.; Wheatley, Peter J.; Skillen, Ian; Apai, Dániel; Bixel, Alex; Gibson, Neale P.; Jordán, Andrés; Lewis, Nikole K.; Louden, Tom; McGruder, Chima D.; Nikolov, Nikolay; Rodler, Florian; Weaver, Ian C.

    The Astronomical journal, 07/2021, Letnik: 162, Številka: 1
    Journal Article

    Abstract We present a new ground-based optical transmission spectrum of the ultrahot Jupiter WASP-103b ( T eq = 2484 K). Our transmission spectrum is the result of combining five new transits from the ACCESS survey and two new transits from the LRG-BEASTS survey with a reanalysis of three archival Gemini/GMOS transits and one VLT/FORS2 transit. Our combined 11-transit transmission spectrum covers a wavelength range of 3900–9450 Å with a median uncertainty in the transit depth of 148 parts per million, which is less than one atmospheric scale height of the planet. In our retrieval analysis of WASP-103b’s combined optical and infrared transmission spectrum, we find strong evidence for unocculted bright regions (4.3 σ ) and weak evidence for H 2 O ( 1.9 σ ), HCN ( 1.7 σ ), and TiO ( 2.1 σ ), which could be responsible for WASP-103b’s observed temperature inversion. Our optical transmission spectrum shows significant structure that is in excellent agreement with the extensively studied ultrahot Jupiter WASP-121b, for which the presence of VO has been inferred. For WASP-103b, we find that VO can only provide a reasonable fit to the data if its abundance is implausibly high and we do not account for stellar activity. Our results highlight the precision that can be achieved by ground-based observations and the impacts that stellar activity from F-type stars can have on the interpretation of exoplanet transmission spectra.