Measurements of exoplanetary orbital obliquity angles for different classes of planets are an essential tool in testing various planet formation theories. Measurements for those transiting planets on ...relatively large orbital periods (
P
> 10 d) present a rather difficult observational challenge. Here we present the obliquity measurement for the warm sub-Saturn planet HD 332231 b, which was discovered through Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite photometry of sectors 14 and 15, on a relatively large orbital period (18.7 d). Through a joint analysis of previously obtained spectroscopic data and our newly obtained CARMENES transit observations, we estimated the spin-orbit misalignment angle,
λ
, to be −42.0
−10.6
+11.3
deg, which challenges Laplacian ideals of planet formation. Through the addition of these new radial velocity data points obtained with CARMENES, we also derived marginal improvements on other orbital and bulk parameters for the planet, as compared to previously published values. We showed the robustness of the obliquity measurement through model comparison with an aligned orbit. Finally, we demonstrated the inability of the obtained data to probe any possible extended atmosphere of the planet, due to a lack of precision, and place the atmosphere in the context of a parameter detection space.
HIP 65426 b is a recently discovered exoplanet imaged during the course of the SPHERE-SHINE survey. Here we present new L′ and M′ observations of the planet from the NACO instrument at the VLT from ...the NACO-ISPY survey, as well as a new Y –H spectrum and K-band photometry from SPHERE-SHINE. Using these data, we confirm the nature of the companion as a warm, dusty planet with a mid-L spectral type. From comparison of its SED with the BT-Settl atmospheric models, we derive a best-fit effective temperature of Teff = 1618 ± 7 K, surface gravity log g = 3.78−0.03+0.04 $\log g\,{=}\,3.78^{+0.04}_{-0.03}$logg = 3.78−0.03+0.04 and radius R = 1.17 ± 0.04RJ (statistical uncertainties only). Using the DUSTY and COND isochrones we estimate a mass of 8 ± 1MJ. Combining the astrometric measurements from our new datasets and from the literature, we show the first indications of orbital motion of the companion (2.6σ significance)and derive preliminary orbital constraints. We find a highly inclined orbit ( i = 1.07−10+13 $i\,{=}\,107^{+13}_{-10}$i = 107−10+13 deg) with an orbital period of 800−400+1200 $800^{+1200}_{-400}$800−400+1200 yr. We also report SPHERE sparse aperture masking observations that investigate the possibility that HIP 65426 b was scattered onto its current orbit by an additional companion at a smaller orbital separation. From this data we rule out the presence of brown dwarf companions with masses greater than 16 MJ at separations larger than 3 AU, significantly narrowing the parameter space for such a companion.
We present the discovery of an Earth-mass planet (
M
b
sin
i
= 1.26 ± 0.21
M
⊕
) on a 15.6 d orbit of a relatively nearby (
d ~
9.6 pc) and low-mass (0.167 ± 0.011
M
⊙
) M5.0 V star, Wolf 1069. ...Sitting at a separation of 0.0672 ± 0.0014 au away from the host star puts Wolf 1069 b in the habitable zone (HZ), receiving an incident flux of
S
= 0.652 ± 0.029
S
⊕
. The planetary signal was detected using telluric-corrected radial-velocity (RV) data from the CARMENES spectrograph, amounting to a total of 262 spectroscopic observations covering almost four years. There are additional long-period signals in the RVs, one of which we attribute to the stellar rotation period. This is possible thanks to our photometric analysis including new, well-sampled monitoring campaigns undergone with the OSN and TJO facilities that supplement archival photometry (i.e., from MEarth and SuperWASP), and this yielded an updated rotational period range of
P
rot
= 150–170 d, with a likely value at 169.3
−3.6
+3.7
. The stellar activity indicators provided by the CARMENES spectra likewise demonstrate evidence for the slow rotation period, though not as accurately due to possible factors such as signal aliasing or spot evolution. Our detectability limits indicate that additional planets more massive than one Earth mass with orbital periods of less than 10 days can be ruled out, suggesting that perhaps Wolf 1069 b had a violent formation history. This planet is also the sixth closest Earth-mass planet situated in the conservative HZ, after Proxima Centauri b, GJ 1061 d, Teegarden’s Star c, and GJ 1002 b and c. Despite not transiting, Wolf 1069 b is nonetheless a very promising target for future three-dimensional climate models to investigate various habitability cases as well as for sub-m s
−1
RV campaigns to search for potential inner sub-Earth-mass planets in order to test planet formation theories.
Ultrahot Jupiters are a type of gaseous exoplanet that orbit extremely close to their host star, resulting in significantly high equilibrium temperatures. In recent years, high-resolution emission ...spectroscopy has been broadly employed in observing the atmospheres of ultrahot Jupiters. We used the CARMENES spectrograph to observe the high-resolution spectra of the dayside hemisphere of MASCARA-1b in both visible and near-infrared. Through cross-correlation analysis, we detected signals of Fe I and Ti I . Based on these detections, we conducted an atmospheric retrieval and discovered the presence of a strong inversion layer in the planet’s atmosphere. The retrieved Ti and Fe abundances are broadly consistent with solar abundances. In particular, we obtained a relative abundance of Ti/Fe as −1.0 ± 0.8 under the free retrieval and −0.4 −0.8 +0.5 under the chemical equilibrium retrieval, suggesting the absence of significant titanium depletion on this planet. Furthermore, we considered the influence of planetary rotation on spectral line profiles. The resulting equatorial rotation speed was determined to be 4.4 −2.0 +1.6 km s −1 , which agrees with the rotation speed induced by tidal locking.
Consideration of both low- and high-resolution transmission spectroscopy is key for obtaining a comprehensive picture of exoplanet atmospheres. In studies of transmission spectra, the continuum ...information is well established with low-resolution spectra, while the shapes of individual lines are best constrained with high-resolution observations. In this work, we aim to merge high- with low-resolution transmission spectroscopy to place tighter constraints on physical parameters of the atmospheres. We present the analysis of three primary transits of WASP-69 b in the visible (VIS) channel of the CARMENES instrument and perform a combined low- and high-resolution analysis using additional data from HARPS-N, OSIRIS/GTC, and WFC3/HST already available in the literature. We investigate the Na
I
D
1
and D
2
doublet, H
α
, the Ca
II
infra-red triplet (IRT), and K
I
λ
7699 Å lines, and we monitor the stellar photometric variability by performing long-term photometric observations with the STELLA telescope. During the first CARMENES observing night, we detected the planet Na
I
D
2
and D
1
lines at ~7 and ~3
σ
significance levels, respectively. We measured a D
2
/D
1
intensity ratio of 2.5 ± 0.7, which is in agreement with previous HARPS-N observations. Our modelling of WFC3 and OSIRIS data suggests strong Rayleigh scattering, solar to super-solar water abundance, and a highly muted Na feature in the atmosphere of this planet, in agreement with previous investigations of this target. We use the continuum information retrieved from the low-resolution spectroscopy as a prior to break the degeneracy between the Na abundance, reference pressure, and thermosphere temperature for the high-resolution spectroscopic analysis. We fit the Na
I
D
1
and D
2
lines individually and find that the posterior distributions of the model parameters agree with each other within 1
σ
. Our results suggest that local thermodynamic equilibrium processes can explain the observed D
2
/D
1
ratio because the presence of haze opacity mutes the absorption features.
Atmospheres of highly irradiated gas giant planets host a large variety of atomic and ionic species. Here we observe the thermal emission spectra of the two ultra-hot Jupiters WASP-33b and ...KELT-20b/MASCARA-2b in the near-infrared wavelength range with CARMENES. Via high-resolution Doppler spectroscopy, we searched for neutral silicon (Si) in their dayside atmospheres. We detect the Si spectral signature of both planets via cross-correlation with model spectra. Detection levels of 4.8
σ
and 5.4
σ
, respectively, are observed when assuming a solar atmospheric composition. This is the first detection of Si in exoplanet atmospheres. The presence of Si is an important finding due to its fundamental role in cloud formation and, hence, for the planetary energy balance. Since the spectral lines are detected in emission, our results also confirm the presence of an inverted temperature profile in the dayside atmospheres of both planets.
One of the main objectives of the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission is the discovery of small rocky planets around relatively bright nearby stars. Here, we report the discovery and ...characterization of the transiting super-Earth planet orbiting LHS 1478 (TOI-1640). The star is an inactive red dwarf (
J
~ 9.6 mag and spectral type m3 V) with mass and radius estimates of 0.20 ± 0.01
M
⊙
and 0.25 ± 0.01
R
⊙
, respectively, and an effective temperature of 3381 ± 54 K. It was observed by TESS in four sectors. These data revealed a transit-like feature with a period of 1.949 days. We combined the TESS data with three ground-based transit measurements, 57 radial velocity (RV) measurements from CARMENES, and 13 RV measurements from IRD, determining that the signal is produced by a planet with a mass of 2.33
−0.20
+0.20
M
⊕
and a radius of 1.24
−0.05
+0.05
R
⊕
. The resulting bulk density of this planet is 6.67 g cm
−3
, which is consistent with a rocky planet with an Fe- and MgSiO
3
-dominated composition. Although the planet would be too hot to sustain liquid water on its surface (its equilibrium temperature is about ~595 K, suggesting aVenus-like atmosphere), spectroscopic metrics based on the capabilities of the forthcoming
James Webb
Space Telescope and the fact that the host star is rather inactive indicate that this is one of the most favorable known rocky exoplanets for atmospheric characterization.
Context.
Relatively large radii of some hot Jupiters observed in the ultraviolet and blue-optical are generally interpreted to be due to Rayleigh scattering by high-altitude haze particles. However, ...the haze composition and its production mechanisms are not fully understood, and observational information is still limited.
Aims.
We aim to study the presence of hazes in the atmospheres of HD 209458 b and HD 189733 b with high spectral resolution spectra by analysing the strength of water vapour cross-correlation signals across the red optical and near-infrared wavelength ranges.
Methods.
A total of seven transits of the two planets were observed with the CARMENES spectrograph at the 3.5 m Calar Alto telescope. Their Doppler-shifted signals were disentangled from the telluric and stellar contributions using the detrending algorithm
SYSREM
. The residual spectra were subsequently cross-correlated with water vapour templates at 0.70–0.96
μ
m to measure the strength of the water vapour absorption bands.
Results.
The optical water vapour bands were detected at 5.2
σ
in HD 209458 b in one transit, whereas no evidence of them was found in four transits of HD 189733 b. Therefore, the relative strength of the optical water bands compared to those in the near-infrared were found to be larger in HD 209458 b than in HD 189733 b.
Conclusions.
We interpret the non-detection of optical water bands in the transmission spectra of HD 189733 b, compared to the detection in HD 209458 b, to be due to the presence of high-altitude hazes in the former planet, which are largely absent in the latter. This is consistent with previous measurements with the
Hubble
Space Telescope. We show that currently available CARMENES observations of hot Jupiters can be used to investigate the presence of haze extinction in their atmospheres.
We report the discovery and characterisation of two Earth-mass planets orbiting in the habitable zone of the nearby M-dwarf GJ 1002 based on the analysis of the radial-velocity (RV) time series from ...the ESPRESSO and CARMENES spectrographs. The host star is the quiet M5.5 V star GJ 1002 (relatively faint in the optical,
V ~
13.8 mag, but brighter in the infrared,
J ~
8.3 mag), located at 4.84 pc from the Sun. We analyse 139 spectroscopic observations taken between 2017 and 2021. We performed a joint analysis of the time series of the RV and full-width half maximum (FWHM) of the cross-correlation function (CCF) to model the planetary and stellar signals present in the data, applying Gaussian process regression to deal with the stellar activity. We detect the signal of two planets orbiting GJ 1002. GJ 1002 b is a planet with a minimum mass
m
p
sin
i
of 1.08 ± 0.13
M
⊕
with an orbital period of 10.3465 ± 0.0027 days at a distance of 0.0457 ± 0.0013 au from its parent star, receiving an estimated stellar flux of 0.67
F
⊕
. GJ 1002 c is a planet with a minimum mass
m
p
sin
i
of 1.36 ± 0.17
M
⊕
with an orbital period of 20.202 ± 0.013 days at a distance of 0.0738 ± 0.0021 au from its parent star, receiving an estimated stellar flux of 0.257
F
⊕
. We also detect the rotation signature of the star, with a period of 126 ± 15 days. We find that there is a correlation between the temperature of certain optical elements in the spectrographs and changes in the instrumental profile that can affect the scientific data, showing a seasonal behaviour that creates spurious signals at periods longer than ~200 days. GJ 1002 is one of the few known nearby systems with planets that could potentially host habitable environments. The closeness of the host star to the Sun makes the angular sizes of the orbits of both planets (~9.7 mas and ~15.7 mas, respectively) large enough for their atmosphere to be studied via high-contrast high-resolution spectroscopy with instruments such as the future spectrograph ANDES for the ELT or the LIFE mission.